Jack Pierce - The Man Behind the Monsters

by Essman, Scott

  werewolf of london

  Following the wild success of Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Mummy, Universal put several follow-up horror showcases into development in the early 1930s. Junior Laemmle had long wanted to produce sound re-makes of The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Phantom of the Opera, previous Lon Chaney-driven successes for the studio in the 1920s, but neither project came to fruition during the Laemmle reign. Finally, in the early 1930s, Laemmle approved a film of The Werewolf, the classic story that had its origins in France as the tale of the “loup-garou.” Karloff was pre-cast as the title character, and Pierce went as far as designing an extensive lycanthrope makeup for him. However, the project was again put off until 1935 when it was reconfigured as Werewolf of London starring Henry Hull (above and opposite). Though Hull rejected a complete masking of his face by the makeup, Pierce devised a strategically frightening likeness which included no less than five facial stages of man-into-wolf transformation on film.

  bride of frankenstein

  Though it took Universal four years to bring the long-rumored sequel to Frankenstein to the screen, the second film in the cycle, first called “The Return of Frankenstein” when it was in development, introduced one striking new Jack Pierce creation to Mary Shelley’s world. In addition to a new frontallyburned version of the monster, Pierce brought a “bride” to the screen in the form of actress Elsa Lanchester. Only appearing at the end of the film, and then for only a few minutes, the image of Lanchester as the Bride of Frankenstein remains as iconic as the 1931 visage of the first Monster. With augmented lips, eyebrows, and eyelashes, plus her amazing shock of hair — ostensibly put up in a wire cage with asymmetrical electric wisps of gray — the Bride, with her birdlike motions and subtle chin scars, manages to simultaneously attract and repel. Both beautiful and horrifying, Lanchester’s brief, quirky appearance on film as the Bride is one of Pierce’s simplest but most clever manifestations.

  Colin Clive as Henry Frankenstein with Lanchester and Ernest

  Thesiger as Dr. Praetorius

  costumes by vera west

  Starting at Universal at the same time as Jack Pierce, costume designer Vera West (top right) worked at the studio until 1947, designing “gowns” (according to many of her credits) and many of the famous monster costumes in the late 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. West headed the costume department from 1928 — again, the same year that Pierce started as makeup department head — and designed the notable costumes in Dracula, Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein during the Laemmle era. Of this first group of films, Bride truly gave her the opportunity to showcase her considerable talents, allegedly honed on New York’s Fifth Avenue before she came to Hollywood. In addition to the iconic costumes for the Monster and the Bride, West designed Una O’Connor’s lavish dress and shawl for her Minnie character (above), the laboratory attire for Colin Clive and Ernest Thesiger as Dr. Praetorius (above right) and the outfit worn by O.P. Heggie (right) as the blind loner who briefly befriends the monster. West went on to design costumes in The Wolf Man, The Phantom of the Opera and the numerous monster sequels of the late 1930s and early 1940s. She mysteriously drowned in a swimming pool at her home shortly after leaving Universal with Pierce and John P. Fulton in the spring of 1947. However, her legacy as one of the top fashion and specialty costume designers of the studio era remains intact and warrants further study by fans of the genre.

  the post-laemmle 1930s

  In 1936, Carl Laemmle Senior and Junior put their final Universal pictures into production. Just before cash problems forced the Laemmles to sell the studio in 1937, they managed to make Dracula’s Daughter, featuring a stunning and yet simple Jack Pierce makeup on Irving Pichel (left). A sequel to 1931’s Dracula, the film was the last horror picture that the Laemmles produced. Pierce also worked on James Whale’s Showboat that year, a final bow for the father-son production team. Sadly, Senior Laemmle passed away in 1939; Junior passed forty years later, never having produced another film after leaving Universal (though he dabbled at MGM for a time in the late 1930s).

  With Charles Rogers as the new boss, Universal changed its focus, heading towards romantic comedies and dramas, but Pierce did undertake some interesting projects in the late 1930s. He honed his beauty makeup skills on actresses such as Deanna Durbin and created Vincent Price’s straight makeup for his first film, Service De Luxe (below left). Then Pierce and Karloff collaborated again on 1939’s Tower of London (below right), a period drama. Though Karloff’s bald appearance was the result of shaving his head, Pierce gave him a useful character makeup and treated his eyebrows in a decidedly groundbreaking fashion for the executioner character Mord.

  son of frankenstein

  Under the Charles Rogers regime, horror films at Universal Studios were all but dead in the late 1930s. Then, in August of 1938, a Hollywood-area movie theater with desperate financial problems conducted a last-ditch effort to get on their feet: they booked the original Universal Dracula and Frankenstein films and presented them on a double bill. The stunt worked more than anyone could have expected and did more than save the theater from ruin; Universal’s monster franchises were back in style. Immediately, Rogers demanded a Frankenstein sequel, and though Whale had left the studio and Colin Clive had passed away in 1937, Pierce and Karloff re-teamed to create a third version of the Monster (above). Karloff was now in his early 50s and, as such, needed a revised version of the makeup, and Pierce tapped Vera West to design the huge shaggy coat that the Monster wore (overleaf). With Basil Rathbone cast as Baron Victor Frankenstein—Henry’s son—and Lionel Atwill playing Inspector Krough (overleaf), director Rowland V. Lee’s film was rich with character parts. Yet it was a character written into the script late in 1938 that would become the hallmark of Son of Frankenstein. Béla Lugosi’s film roles had been underwhelming since his early teamings with Karloff, but his late entry into Son of Frankenstein as the lively wretch Ygor (opposite) became one of the best parts in his career.

  With extensive hair work in the way of wig, beard, moustache and eyebrows (that Lugosi was more than happy to have Pierce apply) the toothy Ygor (above) became as memorable as Karloff’s monster, who is strangely silent in Son of Frankenstein after gaining speech in its predecessor, Bride of Frankenstein.

  Basil Rathbone as Victor Frankenstein, left, with Lionel Atwill as Krough

  films of the 1940s

  Following the unexpected success of Son of Frankenstein, the new

  Universal regime, headed by Cliff Work, saw fit to engage in a series

  of sequels to the classic Universal monster franchise films in the

  early 1940s, although most were crafted as B-pictures. Of course,

  Work called on the skills of longtime head of makeup Jack Pierce to

  work his magic on the new slate of film characters. First on the

  boards was a Mummy sequel, not starring Karloff or Lon Chaney

  Jr. — though the latter would play the lead in the final three

  Mummy sequels. Tom Tyler was cast in The Mummy’s Hand

  (above), and for him, Pierce designed a facial makeup application

  akin to that used on Boris Karloff in the original film. In a similar

  makeup conception, Pierce made actor David Bruce (right) into The

  Mad Ghoul, (1943) an original film from the same period. It took

  John Carradine until 1944 to play Count Dracula, and he did so

  working with Pierce in House of Frankenstein and again in 1945 in

  House of Dracula (above right).

  If the new Universal was making horror pictures which lacked the care and attention to detail of similar films under the Laemmle era, Jack Pierce still strove for greatness. In succession, Pierce was able to ply his trade on a series of new Frankenstein Monsters in the early 1940s. First, Lon Chaney, Jr. portrayed the monster in Ghost of Frankenstein (1942), bottom left, followed by Béla Lugosi in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943), top left, and Glenn Strange in both House of Frankenstein (1944)
and House of Dracula (1945), above. With Strange, Pierce surprised both the actor and House of Frankenstein producer Paul Malverne with his rendering of the character—without telling Strange what makeup he was going to test on the actor, he put paper over the mirrors, led Strange into his makeup room, and did the complete Monster makeup. To Strange and Malverne’s shock and delight, Pierce had created the most unique Frankenstein Monster since the Karloff years. In House of Dracula, Pierce also demonstrated his hair work abilities, making a mad scientist of actor Onslow Stevens (opposite bottom).

  For Jack Pierce, other highlights in the 1940s included a scaled-down version of Claude Rains’ makeup in Phantom of the Opera (1943), opposite top left, the lone Jack Pierce horror character that was filmed in color. Pierce also honed his beauty makeup skills on such stars as Susanna Foster for Phantom (opposite top left inset), while adding Vicki Lane in Jungle Captive (opposite top right), plus its ‘glamourous’ sequels to his beauty makeup résumé.

  the wolf man

  “I don’t use masks or any appliances whatsoever,” proclaimed Jack Pierce about the development of his famous monster characters. The one exception to Pierce’s rule occurred with his striking initial realization of The Wolf Man in 1941. “The only appliances I used was the nose that looks like a wolf[‘s nose]. There you either put on a rubber nose or model the nose every day, which would have taken too long.”

  The idea of Jack Pierce re-creating a wolf character from scratch every day of principal photography may seem daunting, but — as with the Frankenstein Monster and the Mummy before — Pierce prided himself on doing things from the bottom up with each new makeup application. When Lon Chaney, Jr. was cast as the title character in George Waggner’s film, Pierce resurrected the conception of a man-wolf that he had originally conceived for Boris Karloff in the early 1930s. Though Henry Hull became Pierce’s Werewolf of London in 1935, that was a scaled down version of the makeup intended for Karloff in the same role.

  For the Waggner film, slated as a B-picture by the Universal brass, Pierce and special effects supervisor John P. Fulton knew that they had an opportunity to create a unique project that would harken back to the old Laemmle years at the studio. In Chaney, they had the hulking physical actor who could be used to realize their ideas. The Wolf Man appeared in two key “transformation” scenes— which would became the hallmark of the character—and in several momentous chase scenes, including the final climax in the forest. “It took 2 1/2 hours to apply this makeup,” Pierce said, indicating the head, chest piece and hands. “I put all of the hair on a little row at a time. After the hair is on, you curl it, then singe it, burn it, to look like an animal that’s been out in the woods. It had to be done every morning.” As a result of Pierce’s methods, audiences were treated to the perfectionism in The Wolf Man.

  Pierce’s other key characters in The Wolf Man included 1940s “scream queen” Evelyn Ankers as Gwen Conliffe (opposite top left), Claude Rains as Sir John Talbot (opposite top right), and Maria Ouspenskaya as Maleva, the gypsy woman (opposite bottom right).

  Pierce went on to create the Wolf Man character in succeeding sequels, including Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943), above and right, and both House of Frankenstein (1944) and House of Dracula (1945), below. The latter, originally titled “The Wolf Man’s Cure” featured an end to the cycle of appearances by the Wolf Man in Universal films, but the character would inexplicably reappear in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein three years later. By that point, Bud Westmore was supervising makeup artists Jack Kevan (the Frankenstein Monster) and Emile LaVigne (the Wolf Man) in their execution of Jack Pierce’s original designs.

  the faces of lon chaney, jr.

  In Lon Chaney, Jr., opposite bottom left, the Universal Studios of the early 1940s had their new Karloff—a versatile actor who could enliven their many monster franchises. From 1941 to 1944, Chaney Jr. would appear in sequels to Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, and The Wolf Man, in addition to making several original films. Jack Pierce’s first collaboration with Chaney Jr. was Man-Made Monster (1941), opposite top, in which they presented a man invulnerable to electricity. Then, following the success of The Wolf Man later that year, Chaney Jr. was cast in three Mummy sequels playing the doomed Egyptian prince Kharis (opposite bottom right): The Mummy’s Tomb (1942), The Mummy’s Ghost (1944) and The Mummy’s Curse (1944). All featured the actor in a heavily modified version of the original Mummy makeup that Pierce had fashioned for Karloff. Where Pierce’s makeup for Tom Tyler in The Mummy’s Hand retained Tyler’s basic facial features, Chaney was fairly unrecognizable in his Mummy incarnations. In fact, despite his objection to using appliances, Pierce undoubtedly created full facial masks for several of Chaney Jr.’s Mummy appearances, plus additional “double” masks for Eddie Parker, who was Chaney Jr.’s regular standin/double/stuntman. Pierce also worked with Chaney Jr. on both Ghost of Frankenstein (1942) as the Monster and Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943), above, as Larry Talbot/The Wolf Man. In 1944, Pierce and Chaney created the character for Dead Man’s Eyes, left, taking the concept of Chaney Jr.’s blind character receiving an eye transplant to a grisly conclusion.

  In 1943, Universal cast Chaney, Jr. as the lead character in the atmospheric horror thriller Son of Dracula (above), oddly, a dozen years after the first Dracula and a full seven years after Dracula’s Daughter —an atypical practice for the release of sequels in that time period. Though Son of Dracula did not offer Pierce the challenge of creating a completely original monster character in the same stead as his other horror creations, it allowed him the chance to use his considerable hair work skills.

  It is no secret that Chaney Jr. and Pierce had their disagreements. The actor, whose father Pierce had idolized and called both friend and mentor, was intolerant of the long hours and crude methodology that Pierce undertook in realizing the monster characters. If the makeup for The Wolf Man was uncomfortable—supposedly hot, itchy and malodorous—Chaney Jr. was no more pleased with his Mummy makeup and costume (right). Pierce, in all his attention to detail, insisted on applying the necessary “muck,” as Chaney called it, on a daily basis while the actor waited, as patiently as he could. He once signed a photo to Pierce as follows: “To the greatest goddamned sadist in the world.” - L.C.

  films with abbott & costello

  Among Jack Pierce’s fondest assignments as head of

  Universal’s makeup department in the 1940s were those

  with comedy duo Abbott and Costello. As the top box

  office draw at the studio, Abbott and Costello worked

  more than any other Universal team or franchise, mak

  ing some 16 films by the time Jack Pierce left the studio.

  Pierce was chiefly brought in for specialized assignments,

  and Abbott and Costello most likely worked more closely

  with Pierce’s assistants like Abe Haberman in that period.

  Strangely, though Jack Pierce had been head of

  Universal’s makeup department since 1928, he didn’t

  receive a screen credit on any Abbott and Costello film

  until The Naughty Nineties in 1945 (top right), which

  featured the legendary “Who’s on First?” routine.

  Nonetheless, the Abbott and Costello experiences were important to Pierce on a personal as well as professional level. Producerdirector Arthur Lubin and Pierce became fast friends in the early 1940s—Lubin directed the first five successful Abbott and Costello films at the studio (pictured above right on the set of In the Navy), in addition to Pierce makeup vehicles such as The Phantom of the Opera with Claude Rains. He and Pierce remained friends through the 1940s even as Lubin left the studio, when he issued Pierce this friendly letter in November, 1945:

  “Dear Jack, As you have undoubtedly heard, I have left Universal after an association of many years. I can’t say goodbye without first expressing my sincere appreciation for your friendship and kindness. I feel that, without your help, whatever measure of s
uccess I may have achieved in my work here would not have been possible. If in any way in the future, I can be of service, I shall. I want you to feel that I take with me a very warm regard for you wherever I may go. Cordially, Arthur Lubin.” Pierce could not have known then how prophetic those words would be in years to come. Other important associations with Abbott and Costello filmmakers included one with Charles Barton, who directed eight films with the duo after Lubin left Universal. In fact, Pierce was working on the sequel to Abbott and Costello’s first feature film success Buck Privates in the spring of 1947 when a “horror-comedy” that had long been planned was announced. However, on the set of that film — Barton’s Buck Privates Come Home — Pierce and other Universal mainstays, including Vera West and John P. Fulton, were fired from the studio that they had called home for nearly 20 years. The announcement, by new studio chief William Goetz, must have been especially shocking to Jack Pierce, who, in his 30 years of loyalty to Universal Studios, never once signed a contract with studio bosses.

  pierce in the 1950s

  In 1947, having been let go by Universal Studios, Jack Pierce faced the second half of his career at the age of 58. His fortunes were furthered tainted by the reality that studios of the era had lost interest in making horror films. With the real horrors of World War II in the past, only lighter fare such as 1948’s Universal romp Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein was put into production. Moreover, that film, which was being planned by director Charles Barton when Pierce was dismissed from his duties at Universal, utilized Pierce designs for the Frankenstein Monster, the Wolf Man and Dracula, but new makeup supervisor Bud Westmore and his team realized those characters with more sophisticated makeup techniques than Pierce had in his arsenal. Jack Pierce once proudly claimed that he did not use appliances (though it is fact that he used at least partial appliances on The Wolf Man and the Mummy sequels), but in the late 1940s and early 1950s that statement did not serve him well. Pierce’s methods were seen as archaic in the era of George Bau’s foam latex formula and techniques. And despite Pierce’s indisputable talents, his age and high standards were likely seen as a hindrance rather than an advantage. Thus, Jack Pierce, creator of the classic monsters of cinema, was relegated to work as a freelancer on often substandard material, rarely making use of his specialized skills. Occasionally, Pierce’s projects in this time allowed him to stretch his creative wings, including an episode of the popular 1950s show You Are There in 1955 in which he and former Universal co-worker Carmen Dirigo transformed Jeff Morrow into Abraham Lincoln (above).