MotleyWarg

Okay, horror kids, history lesson.

I see some people complaining about the new Dark Universe (in Epic Universe) Ygor not having a hunched back. Or worse, there are people who don’t even know who he is or think he’s too “extra.”

In regard to the hunchback depiction, it's not just concern about it being ableist (and it kind of is). The original Ygor wasn't even a hunchback.

Let's go back in time a bit.

In the first Universal Dracula movie (1931) Dracula had a bug eating mad henchman named Renfield (actually from the original novel by Bram Stoker). In that same year Renfield's actor (Dwight Frye) played another henchman, Fritz, in Frankenstein (Not a character from the novel by Mary Shelley that the film is based on).

Both were masterfully played as at least slightly crazed by Dwight Frye. Dwight would be typecast in these sort of roles until his untimely death in 1943.

In 1935 Bride of Frankenstein would have Dwight Frye play the sinister henchman, Karl.

The first Ygor (Spelt with a "Y" instead of an "I") was actually played by Bela Lugosi in the movie Son of Frankenstein in 1939 (The movie after Bride of Frankenstein). And then again in Ghost of Frankenstein (1942). This version of Ygor had a twisted neck from a botched hanging, instead of a hunchback.

This Ygor was a manipulative schemer and wanted to place his brain in the Frankenstein monster body and at the end of Ghost of Frankenstein he was successful, essentially killing the version of The Frankenstein Monster that had been portrayed by Boris Karloff.

The transference left Ygor's intellect in tact but he went blind in the new body. Test screenings of Frankenstein meet the Wolfman (1943) met with confused reactions from people who hadn't seen Son of Frankenstein or Ghost of Frankenstein and didn't understand why The Frankenstein Monster now spoke with Hungarian / Romanian accent. The movie was then heavily edited to remove every scene of The Frankenstein Monster talking (those scenes now lost) but he still walked around with his arms out stretched because of the blinding. This is why people sometimes think of the Frankenstein monster (and zombies) as walking around with their arms awkwardly out stretched in front of them.

The next hunchbacked assistant to a mad scientist in a Universal monster movie was Daniel (Played by J. Carrol Naish) in House of Frankenstein in 1944. In this movie he was the assistant of Doctor Niemann, played by Boris Karloff.

A hunchbacked woman assistant turned up in House of Dracula in 1945. And in 1962 Ygor / Igor was mentioned in the novelty song, Monster Mash. There was no physical description of Igor in the song but most imagine he was the hunchbacked version that now exists in our collective zeitgeist imagining. The Igor that is the collective zeitgeist imagining of the character fully manifested in the Mel Brooks comedy, Young Frankenstein. In fact most hunchbacked depictions of Igor are from comedies. This was in 1974. Five years later a TV movie was released called The Halloween That almost wasn’t. It also had an alternate title of The Night Dracula Saved the World. This also had the hunchbacked version of Igor but he served as a sort of stand-in for Renfield in that he was assisting Dracula instead of Dr. Frankenstein.

In 1984 The New Scooby Doo Mystery Tales did a special called A Halloween Hastle at Dracula’s Castle. This also featured a version of Igor assisting Dracula instead of Dr. Frankenstein. Somehow the late 70s brought about this shift that Igor was no longer associated with Frankenstein so much and was now associated with Count Dracula and this would linger on and off for a few decades.

In 1993’s Tim Burton’s The Nightmare before Christmas a version of Igor presents Dr. Finklestein with the plans for the skeletal flying reindeer that would pull Jack’s sleigh.

In 2004 a version of Igor turned up in the movie Van Helsing, first appearing to assist Dr. Frankenstien and then it turned out his real loyalty was to a bribe given to him by Count Dracula.

In 2008 an animated film was released called “Igor” about a world where you are born to be a lab assistant or a mad scientist. And an Igor rebels against his imposed role. It seems there was some Quasimodo from The Hunchback of NotreDame influence in some later depictions.

In 2015 the movie Victor Frankenstein Daniel Radcliffe played a version of Igor who befriends Victor Frankenstein.

Today the zeitgeist idea of Igor (or Ygor) merges all these depictions together, from serious to comedy, to crazy, and treacherous, from working for the Frankenstein family to working for Count Dracula. The twisted neck of Bela Lugosi’s version has long been forgotten in favor of Daniel’s hunchback that Mel Brooks secured in our cultural consciousness as a part of Igor.

Igor doesn’t need to be hunchbacked. He didn’t even start with one. So long as he’s crazy, sinister, and a morbid little ba$tard henchman he’s fine.

And yes, he should be “extra.” Igor should never be “toned down.” He’s a drama queen. We’re talking about someone, who in his tamest depiction, manipulated his way into having his brain placed in the Frankenstein Monster’s body.

it’s okay to use your turn signal when you’re changing lanes

it’s okay to use your turn signal when you’re taking an exit

it’s okay to use your turn signal when you plan on turning (can even be done sooner than 2 seconds before you’re about to turn)

you have a turn signal. in your vehicle. two of them in fact.

“Monsters are tragic beings. They are born too tall, too strong, too heavy.” - Submitted by: fastman27

And it was astonishing because not only was it an amazing sense of connection between the audience and the actress, but you also realized that this was a kind of an historical lesson in theater reception. That’s what must have happened at The Globe. These soliloquies were not simply monologues that people spoke, they were call and response to the audience. And you realized that vibrancy, that that sense of connectedness is not only what makes theater great in prisons, it’s what makes theater great, period."

Hamlet. There’s a scene where Hamlet sees Claudius praying and debates whether to kill him now or wait (because if Claudius dies praying he will automatically go to heaven). The actor playing Hamlet was genuinely asking the audience the questions in the speech, and when he got to “and should I kill him now?” someone in the audience shouted “YES KILL HIM HE NEEDS TO DIE!” Hamlet took the entire rest of the monologue to that person, enumerating his reservations so persuasively that they started to nod in agreement.

Romeo and Juliet. In this production, the fight between Mercutio and Tybalt happens in several rounds, of which Mercutio won the first. Mercutio’s actor made the choice, upon his victory, to run down the audience with his hand out for high-fives. He decided this in rehearsal, so he had time to plan for the three responses people would probably give him: a) a high-five back; b) being stunned and not reacting; and c) the old “oops too slow.” What this Mercutio did not prepare for was the audience member who panicked and deposited their handful of M&Ms into his open palm. The way I heard it, Mercutio was still processing this when Benvolio came up beside him and stole the M&Ms out of his hand to eat them.

I forget what year it was, but the play took place in the historic James J Hill House here in St Paul. Hill was a railway tycoon during the gilded age, with all the disparity of wealth and privilege that implies. He was so successful and obscenely wealthy he became known as The Empire Builder and the grandness of his home reflected that. The walls in the dining room are literally gold. It’s breathtaking. It’s obscene. It’s perfect for the kind of corruption and rot that takes place in Hamlet under a gilded veneer.

The play started in the viewing gallery, with actors walking through the literal gilded halls of the mansion, the leather wallpaper stamped with gold filigree glittering in the gaslamp—the perfect setting for the wedding scene. As the opening progressed the lights were dimmed until only Hamlet was visible illuminated from the upper gallery by harsh modern lights above, just this chillingly beautiful cold light after all the warmth of the gaslamp and gold.

As the play progressed we were led further through the house, witnessing Hamlet talk to the ghost of his father on the grand staircase—the stairs further used to show hierarchy among the characters with Hamlet spiraling ever lower until we were invited to descend into the bowels of the house through the servants quarters, an area just as vast as the rest of the house but infinitely colder and utterly devoid of the opulent grandeur above.

The space is also nearly entirely marble, which leeches the warmth from the air, so even huddled together the audience grew colder and colder the longer we were down there.

It also meant the echo was amazing, and listening to Ophelia sing forlornly as she descends into madness was absolutely bone chilling. Watching her climb into a claw foot tub that had been placed in the center of the long hallway was also hair raising. She just kept singing, strewing flowers around the empty floor as we stood around her in a circle, helpless to stop her as she purposefully slipped under the water, holding her hands above the lip of the tub even as her head slipped under the water and the last echoes of her singing faded.

It made the Queen’s account of how Ophelia died just so… the lie of it. Like we were still standing there, she was still in the tub (head now above the water) and we’d witnessed the truth of it, and there was Gertrude telling any one of us in the circle who would listen how the poor maid “fell.” Anything to absolve themselves of the sin of her suicide.

We were turned around for a bit after that, led to the end of the hallway near the boiler room where the gravediggers leaned on gilded age coal shovels, and Hamlet got to do his bit with Yorick, the echo of the marble hallway dampened by having brought us back toward the stairwell, his voice soft and intimate. Showing his quiet resolve and return to sanity.

Only to pull us back moments later to center as he ran to where Ophelia’s funeral was taking place, and when I tell you, Hamlet’s howl of grief echoed. It reverberated. It was terrifying. It was amazing. People took instinctive steps away from him. It was just raw emotion bouncing off the walls of this cold, dark basement, entire worlds away from where we’d started.

The play ended back in the ballroom, the dead lying strewn amongst the wealth that couldn’t save them with only Horatio illuminated in gold by the lights. When Fortinbrass arrived he looked around the space like it was nothing, like the way we’d looked around the empty void of the basement. The wealth meant nothing to him. It was just another graveyard.

Like. I remember back in my grocery store cashier days I did so much crazy shit.

When WIC (Women, infants, and children voucher program to help low income mothers/families with children) people were in my line I would pretty much know who they were. Before the cards they had to tell us upfront they were WIC and show us their vouchers for what they were allowed to get (it was awful some times. Like. 2 gallons of milk. $4 worth of vegetables etc etc). They’d always have items hanging back, waiting to see what the total was and if they would have to take it off the belt.

I began to place the fruits/vegetables a certain way on the register scale so that like 1/2lbs of grapes read as like .28lbs or something. Then act shocked when I said that they still had X amount of lbs left. They got all their fruit and vegetables.

I think it started to kinda? Catch on to the women? Because I would have the same moms in my line month after month. And even after they switched to the cards (they worked like food stamp cards?) I’d still do the same thing. They were able to get more produce for whatever shitty max amount Indiana gave them.

William Tell Overture- Rossini (Most famous part at 8:45, but why not listen to the whole thing?) I’m adding hints, at least to the ones I recognized culturally. This one is “go, horsey, go!”

Also Sprach Zarathustra- Strauss Slow, dramatic entry scene, IN SPAAACE.

Eine Kleine Nachtmusik- Mozart People running out of a fancy wedding or something. Also known as DUN, dun DUN, dun DUN dun DUN dun DUUUUN.

Symphony 94, Mvt. 2 “Surprise Symphony”- Haydn ?

Toccata and Fugue in d Minor-Bach Halloween organ!

Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2- Chopin Picture a tiny old woman playing piano in a sunlit room with lots of flower vases, about the spill the tragic secrets of her past to some timid young visitor.

Rondo alla Turca- Mozart the babysitter from The Incredibles: “Time for some COGNITIVE ENRICHMENT!”

Sinfonie de Fanfares: Rondeau- Jean-Joseph Mouret Royalty is coming. Or someone is getting married. Or royalty is getting married. Also the PBS Masterpieces theme.

The Four Seasons: Spring- Vivaldi (I just linked to the whole thing because it’s great) Again, someone is getting married, but this one is strings instead and a lot less frumpy.

Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring- Bach That one that amateur guitarists love where the notes are all up and down but all the same length. Also used in movie weddings.

O Fortuna (from Carmina Burana)- Carl Orff SONG OF DOOM. Also song of “baby on fire!” in The Incredibles.

Funeral March- Chopin ?

Orpheus in the Underworld: Infernal Galop (A.K.A. Can Can)- Offenbach Well, “aka can-can” says it all.

Pomp and Circumstance (You probably graduated to this)- Elgar Oh yes, Baaaa dun dun dun duun duuuuun… Also if you were a bandie you had to play it for 3 years before graduating to it.

Gayane: Sabre Dance- Aram Khachaturian Comically hectic productivity, a circus clown juggling while standing on a ball, or perhaps a rapidly-approaching termite infestation. Could go any way, really.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Wedding March- Mendelssohn The song movies play right AFTER they both say “I do.”

Carmen: Les Toreadors- Bizet I can’t be the only one who remembers when ‘Hey Arnold’ did this. “Bullfights and swordfights, rolling in manuuure!”

The Ride of the Valkyries- Wagner Good song for a naval battle I guess? I can only think of the mini golf course I went to as a kid with the creepy castle on Hole 18 that played this.

Für Elise- Beethoven That one every amateur piano player loves to play because the beginning is just E and E-flat over and over. Also ballet and piano recital scenes in movies.

Dance of the Hours- Ponchielli Hello mudda, hello fadda, here I am at, Camp Granada…

Rigotello: La Donna e Mobile- Verdi More than a few sophisticated movie villains (or snobby good guys) have this playing on a Victrola. Also, tell me you don’t picture Pavaroti no matter who’s actually singing.

Night on Bald Mountain- Mussorgsky ?

Romeo and Juliet: Love Theme- Tchaikovsky More movie-love, usually building up to admitting they live each other.

Entry of the Gladiators- Julius Fucik I have one word for you: CIRCUS.

Lakmé: Flower Duet- Delibes OMG ALIAS. Nadia’s spy  backstory in Film Noir!

Peer Gynt: In the Hall of the Mountain King- Greig Mischievous Tiptoeing in Movies song. Also something growing out of control, slowly at first and then quickly, and (comically) exploding.

Rodeo: Hoedown- Copland The title says it all tbh.

Peer Gynt: Morning Mood- Greig Sunrise/waking up Movie Song du jour.

New World Symphony Mov. [2][4]- Dvorak Well now I’m thinking of “An American Tail” and I’m crying…

Ave Maria (You knew this, but did you know that it was by Schubert?) Nothing to add. I’m not a music snob, really, but if you didn’t know this, YOU SHOULD.

Canon in D- Pachelbel This is the one that the pretty Trans-Siberian Orchestra Christmas song comes from. :-)

Flight of the Bumblebee - Rimsky-Korsakov Oh come on, everyone knows this one! It sounds too much like the title for you to forget what it’s called! Also: Drumline.

Finale to the 1812 Overture - Tchaikovsky Naval battle! Cannon! Fireworks! 4th of July in ‘Murica! Even though it’s about that *other* war going on in 1812!

Der Holle Rache kocht in meiner herzen (aka the Queen of the Night aria) - Mozart The one that fancy ladies in movies use to try and break champagne glasses.

Libiamo ne’ lieti calici - Verdi ?

Largo al factotum - Rossini Does your cartoon need a classical tune for your rotund Italian chef to sing while tossing pizza dough? Have we got a song for you!

Overture to The Barber of Seville - Rossini Fast-paced, sneaky-things-are-afoot movie song.

The Blue Danube Waltz - Strauss Da-da-da dum dum. *plink plink* *plink plink*. As heard in Jack’s entry to First Class in “Titanic,” and a million other places. (Veggie Tales “Stuff Mart,” anyone?)

Moonlight Sonata (mvmt. 1) - Beethoven The ultimate pretty-and-sad piano and/or ballet scene song.

Symphony No. 5 - Beethoven dun dun dun DUUUUUN.

And

Bolero - Maurice Ravel. Slow-burn DRAMA.