Bring Me the Ring of Bela Lugosi

With props on my mind I've been looking at Dracula's ring.

With three famous fanged actors wearing it I wondered if they had the same one, namely John Carradine, Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee, the original 

Consulting the funny pages [the net], which is thick with Transylvanian finger jewelry, its clear I am but one of a myriad mortal souls interested in this very Carpathian conundrum.

The huge passion for and heavy presence of this ring online is such that fans, firms and aficionados have copied, cast and recreated it probably since the beginning of fandom for the films.

Perhaps the greatest horror collector ever, Forry J. Ackerman, discusses the original Universal Dracula ring in 1996, which he had in his possession.

https://youtu.be/1OzANIHjnCY?si=k17Ickqd9BeT5DsC

So where is the original Dracula ring now?

Any ideas?

Dracula: The Play

The other night I took a friend to see Dracula in Wakefield.

The Opera House to be exact, Dracula the stage play.

We enjoyed it. A dark tale with a talented cast. A clever use of movable crates and scenery kept the set alive as the story progressed from the Count's castle to Whitby to London and back to his castle.

The cast intermittently spoke as a chorus, warning the world of the terrible nature of vampires and that they are most certainly real. Quite startling really! 

The ending was a surprise. Dracula sacrifices himself to save his brides and the global vampire community. Is that in Bram Stoker's novel? (which sadly, I've not read). I'm used to Van Helsing polishing off the old Vlad!

Have you ever seen Dracula on stage readers?

Image not from the play

My New Bran Bowl

My meagre but fun catch at the car boot, my first trip out in a week.

LtoR. Castle Bran bowl. Dr.Who mag free gift 2009. Silver ironing board cover. Modern Action Man.

The Bran bowl from Dracula's castle in Romania was a no brainer - or should that be branner! I was fascinated by comic ads for vials of Bran soil when I was a kid and now I have at least a bowl. You can guess what's going it in! And no, not bran!

Do you remember Dracula's soil in bottles?

The silver cover is for a future action man outfit. Can you guess?

The modern Action man will be my deep sea diver when I'm done. Those modern hands are WAY too big!

I also saw this Route 66 picture. What is that car? Anyone?

What are you up to today?

Fangs for the Memories! New Year's Eve in Whitby

 A day trip to Whitby on the Yorkshire coast is always a treat. Twinned with Anchorage, Alaska, this old fishing town is a feast of sights, sounds, seagulls and salty chips.

Here are a few snaps I took.

There's an old die cast shop. I bought some great Super fast there last year.

An Army Surplus with Action Men! 

The really old toy corner shop on the market square. I bought a Fairylite Stingray here years ago for a fiver! 

And some black and white shots of Whitby's old gothic streets.

St. Hilda's on the hill.

Henrietta Street end

The harbour

The lights of dusk

Dark Henrietta Street.

The famous steps.

The Board Inn.

A Snicket to the shore.

Old town.

Christmas Spirit.

Dracula! Bram Stoker wrote it here!

Arguments Yard. Settle this! 

Town centre.

Over the Bridge.

Christmas tree.

Have you got a favourite seashore town like Whitby? 

OPEN THE BARNSLEY POD BAY DOORS, HAL!

 We had a swell time today in Barnsley. We've not been to the South Yorkshire metropole for ages. It was fun.

Things we saw on our stroll round include:

Halloween masks made by ....

..... Lone Star! Really? It says Wetherby! That's Leeds, up the road from Moonbase!

The shop window of one of several sci-fi and fantasy shops, Red Robot is a new comic shop and its window display was great!

 The 1970's Graphic Novel Dracula to the right could be one I had as a kid. It must be one of the earliest graphic novels that.

I like the stormtrooper reading Black Hammer! That's a comic I don't know.

Alas, I was so loaded up with stuff [more on this to come] that I couldn't really go in. Next time Red Robot.

More treasures in the middle, Eerie comic [a later one], carded Universal Monsters [are those the Burger King figures from years ago being recycled?] and EC Comics Vault of Horror collected. The Planet of the Apes jigsaw far right was £40!

Perhaps the most startling thing we saw in Barnsley was what was showing at the town's Parkway cinema.

2001 A Space Odyssey no less!

I had to look twice. Apparently the Parkway is one of the few cinemas around that can show the 70mm film. On tomorrow, Sunday and Tuesday. £9.

Alas, we can't go. Childminding for half-term! 

Besides the above there are loads of great charity shops - and I mean loads - and a really ace second hand toy stall on the market.

I'll photograph our haul and post as soon as.

Dracula Posters

Hi

              From the Dark Corners movie review channel on You Tube is this look at 100 Years of Dracula Movie Posters. Yes, 100 years since the first movie with the word Dracula in the title first appeared, back in 1921. It is 56 minutes of pure Dracula movie history. Some of the films are famous, others so obscure I have never heard of them. All good fun.

100 Years of Dracula Movie Posters - YouTube

Dark Corners has many reviews of bad and/or cult movies, and various specials, and is well worth a look, if you have not seen it before.

Paul Adams from New Zealand

Dracula's Hearse

Hi Woodsy

Last year I ordered some of the Noch HO horror models that I had discovered on the internet. I did send you some pictures of these, but they were ones I found on the internet, and not of very good quality. 

So I am going to send you some better shots of these models, now that I have my own sets. First up is Noch 16714 Leichenwagen, or hearse coach. 

This is an early horse-drawn vehicle, and would be ideal to go with your vampire models. Noch is a German company, making accessories for model railways in various scales, although the hearse is Made in China. The model is plastic, and is mainly black, with silver trim. 

The horses are brown, and the faces and hands of the humans (?) are flesh. There is a brown-draped coffin in the back. Oddly, the horses can not be joined to the shaft, but just stand either side of it. Overall length about 85 mm. 

It comes in a small, clear plastic box. This is not strictly a Dracula model, but I posed mine beneath the walls of Castle Dracula. At $29 NZ, plus postage, this is an expensive little model, but it is of very high quality. 

The photos were also fun. 

Yours Sincerely, 

Paul Adams from New Zealand

COUNT COVID

 At the end of March when Covid struck the Missus she had to monitor her oxygen level with a finger monitor.

As usual I had to fiddle with it.

I slapped it onto a toy Dracula's arm and ...

as you can see he has oxygen in his system, 56 and even more worrying .... a pulse of 70 bpm!

I nearly ran out of the house screaming!

Next the Count will want vaccinating!

Ha ha.

Dracula's Hearse

Hi Woodsy,

Here is another Noch item I thought might be of interest to vampire fans. 

A horse drawn hearse. It is not officially a Dracula item, but who else would that be in the back ? This one might be a little more Hammer than Universal, but that is not a problem. 

This is from Perer's Spares in Britain, the earlier items were all from Howard Scenic Supplies. I have not dealt with any of these companies, but they seem to have good ranges.

Paul A

NZ

DRACULA COMES TO AMERICA - FINAL PART

That's all folks!

Don't have nightmares!

Courtesy of Terranova47

USA

For the whole series of posts click on the label Dracula Comic