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Advice & More November 2015

Silver Screen, Golden Years

Boris Karloff in the 1950 Macy’s Parade

By Jacqueline T. Lynch

At the end of the parade route, Santa Claus, and parade marshal Jimmy Durante and Hopalong Cassidy and Boris Karloff extended their holiday greetings to the crowd in front of Macy’s. Perhaps that was the moment Karloff entered the pantheon of giants in the world of children, standing shoulder to shoulder with Hoppy and Santa, in front of a store with an enormous toy department.

Boris Karloff, dressed as a pirate, rode down Broadway on a blustery cold November morning, rode on a float designed to look like pirate ship. In honor of Thanksgiving, we will have a look today at Boris Karloff’s participation in the 1950 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

The New York Times reported the scene the following day. The giant balloons in the sky were nothing that would be familiar to today’s cartoon-watching, video-game playing children. Sailing above them were the un-merchandised and generic dachshund, a gnome, a clown, and a fish. The St. Bernadette Cadet Corps “blared the approach” of Boris Karloff, “the ‘bad man’ of the films, who, this time, was garbed as the swashbuckling Captain Hook, in command of his pirate ship and flanked by his buccaneers.”

Then the reporter notes that the cheers for Karloff erupted into a huge “din” for Hopalong Cassidy, played by William Boyd, “in full regalia.” We have the image of the aging icon Karloff surpassed by a newer hero. But only temporarily, for Hopalong Cassidy is remembered now only by older baby boomers, Karloff has achieved immortality, curiously not only for the body of his work, but also for the single role of Frankenstein’s monster that shot him to stardom in middle age.

That was the early 1930s, but by the late 1940s, Mr. Karloff’s career was seemingly on the wane. His last film in the previous year of 1949 was Abbot and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff. Despite the honor of having one’s name actually in the title of the movie, Mr. Karloff’s monster image now was poked fun at, his eerie screen persona perhaps demystified, if not actually debunked. It wasn’t that hard to do, for Mr. Karloff conveyed a gentleness that brought a depth of humanity to his roles. He wasn’t just Frankenstein’s monster, he was Pagliaccio, Cyrano, and Hamlet, playing Frankenstein’s monster—if Pagliaccio, Cyrano, and Hamlet did not speak majestic passages but, rather, grunted and stumbled around a lot.

He could also convey – superbly – heartrending innocence.

Boris Karloff’s stint on the parade route was a day off from his current gig, which was to play the dual role of Mr. Darling and Captain Hook in the Broadway musical “Peter Pan,” opposite fellow Hollywood escapee Jean Arthur in the title role. “Peter Pan” opened at the Imperial Theater on April 24, 1950. In early October, the play moved over to the St. James Theater, where it remained until January 27, 1951, for a total of 321 performances.

Author Beverly Bare Buehrer in her Boris Karloff: a Bio-bibliography (Greenwood Press, Westport, CT, 1993) notes that the role was exhausting for a man of Karloff’s age (he would be 63 years old on November 23rd, Thanksgiving Day), with six costume changes, and three makeup changes. However, when the show closed in 1951, he then toured in the road production. So much for a lack of energy.

The New York Herald Tribune called Karloff “captivating,” and the New York Times announced, “This is Mr. Karloff’s day of triumph.”

Did the kiddies waving at Captain Hook on the passing float know that? Or, were they just craning their heads, waiting for Hopalong Cassidy, whom they knew from TV, a more intimate friendship because Hoppy was in their living rooms and not down at the neighborhood movie house (where he used to be for the previous generation).

Did the parents of the kiddies pay special attention to the grand old thespian in the pirate costume, batting away the burst of snow flurries with his hook?

“Mr. Karloff is an actor of tenderness and humor, with an instinct for exact inflection,” so the New York Times lovingly paid the old monster tribute on his opening night on Broadway. At the end of the parade route, Santa Claus, and parade marshal Jimmy Durante and Hopalong Cassidy and Boris Karloff extended their holiday greetings to the crowd in front of Macy’s. Perhaps that was the moment Karloff entered the pantheon of giants in the world of children, standing shoulder to shoulder with Hoppy and Santa, in front of a store with an enormous toy department.

He had entertained children before, on the screen and privately in hospital wards and on the Broadway stage. Recordings would follow, and his famous turn as the “Grinch,” which is still shown on television where Hoppy once ruled the roost but now no more. Boris’ magnificent “exact inflection” is heard every December by children sitting in front of…the television.

 

Jacqueline T. Lynch is the author of Ann Blyth: Actress. Singer. Star. and Movies in Our Time: Hollywood Mirrors and Mimics the Twentieth Century, available online at Amazon, CreateSpace, and the author. Website: www.JacquelineTLynch.com.

Meet Jacqueline