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| Charles Bronson's prop head used in House of Wax |
The World 3-D Film Expo is in full swing, screening classic
3-D films from the fifties and onward. If you haven’t made it out yet, there
are still plenty of horror titles to be seen, all in eye-popping 3-D. Classics
like It Came From Outer Space and Revenge of the Creature, the lesser know
Vincent Price film, The Mad Magician
(only his second in the horror genre) and some camp favorites like Gorilla at Large and the outrageously
strange Robot Monster. It’s all
happening in Hollywood at Grauman’s Egyptian Theater and you can find out more
about it at their website, 3-dfilmexpo.com.
Special guest Q&A sessions at this 10 day event have
really helped to highlight the rarity of these screenings, even if sometimes
they don’t always go as planned. Although the announced stars of Jaws 3-D couldn’t make the show, the
ruckus audience that turned out that night didn’t seem to mind their
replacement guests; director Joe Alves, producer Rupert Hitzig and location
manager Carl Mazzocone. But a true personal thrill was the presence of Julie
Adams at the Creature from the Black
Lagoon screening. I got a chance to talk with Ms. Adams and her son Mitch
Dalton, about the film, 3-D and her autobiography, Lucky Southern Star: Reflections from the Black Lagoon that she
co-authored with Mitch.
You’ve had a lengthy career that has spanned seven decades, but you’re
still widely recognized for your role as Kay Lawrence in The Creature From
The Black Lagoon. How does if feel to
have “Scream Queen” status?
Julia Adams: It feels very good. Twenty some years ago when I got [CFTBL], I had to scream, and I
discovered that I had a pretty good scream. So I’ve done some screaming along
the way. We make movies to entertain people and many people are entertained by
scary movies. It is so amazing that this movie is still popular all these years
later. It pleases me to have been a part of something people have enjoyed so
much.
CFTBL wasn’t the first 3-D film you were in. You
played a Mexican guerilla in Wings of the Hawk, another film that will be screening at the Expo. Do you recall the
first time you saw yourself in 3-D?
JA: Oh yes, of course I can remember. I didn’t like it much. I
though, ‘Oh gee, it all looks so weird’. It seemed to me to be that way. But it
was all very successful, so who’s going to argue with a picture being
successful.
Did you enjoy working with the film’s director, Jack Arnold?
JA: Jack Arnold was a very good director. He was helpful with
the actors and he knew what he was doing all the time. So there were very little
delays about this, that and the other. I know he was very good technically but
he was fine with the actors too. We had rehearsal before the shooting of the
movie and that was wonderful because we all got very accustomed to each other. I
enjoyed working with him very much.
How about working with your leading man, Richard Carlson?
JA: Richard Carlson was an absolutely charming gentleman and
also a very good screen actor. I enjoyed working with him very much. A really
nice man, he had a good sense of humor and it was all very pleasant.
And what about the star of the film, The Gill-man. What was it like to
be carried off by that rubber suit?
JA: It’s hard to describe what it was like. It was a unique
experience; lets put it that way. Ben (Chapman) was a wonderful “strong” man,
he was also extremely considerate, so I felt very safe being carried by Ben.
But I understand there was an incident, while being carried by Ben.
JA: The incident in the cave?
[laughs] Well, yes. This was on the set of the interior of the cave. The
cave was quite realistically done so that there were sharp points out of the
wall of the cave as caves often have. So Ben was carrying me and of course he
has the goggles on, so he really couldn’t see very well. So he’s carrying me,
and I’m in his arms, and all of a sudden one of these points sticking out of
the wall hit my head. Ben felt terrible about it and the studio made a whole
big fuss about it. They called the doctor. They had a nurse and doctor on the
lot, so they were called down and so the nurse was patching up the scrape on my
head with bandages, they made a thing about it and publicity came down and took
some shots. So it became a big number even though it was quite simple and non-life
threatening, shall we say.
Mitch Danton: The tank wasn’t heated that day, so that added to the drama.
So when Ben and Julie went to get in the water it was freezing cold, so that
added to her shivering and Ben not being able to see very well through his
goggles when the fogged up when the cold water hit the warm set.
I’m sure there were a few technical difficulties. Working with the 3-D
camera, did that affect your performance at all?
JA: Not really. I was playing my part, as I had in mind, and
there was really not a lot [of difficulties], because they staged it well for
the camera and I knew exactly where my marks were. You can’t ad-lib your
movements when you’re shooting 3-D. We rehearsed it very well first. Then I
played the scene within those marks that we had set. Technically it was not
that difficult.
Do you consider your role as Kay to be a strong female character?
JA: Yes definitely. She was a scientist, and there were certain
dangers in what she did, like when she was in the jungle. So I felt she was a
very strong woman, who loved her work and wanted to do a good job in it. That’s
my vision of her. She was very dedicated to her work.
Your biography, The Lucky Southern Star: Reflections from the Black
Lagoon was co-authored with your son.
What was the experience of re-living your career with your son like?
JA: I sat down and wrote a great many things in long hand and
then my son Mitch and I, we worked on it together. Mitch did a great job, he’s
a film editor and he also turned out to be a very good book editor. It was a
pleasure working with my son, telling these stories and going back over them.
He would ask me questions, or [question] where I made a mistake.
And Mitch, what did you learn about your mother while writing the book?
MD: What I
really learned was just how dedicated she was to her craft and how she managed
to navigate the ups and downs of an acting career. She kinda’ made a big splash
with Creature and some of the other films at Universal and then contract ended
in the late 50’s and television exploded and in the late fifties and sixties
she did just about every [type of show]. When television slowed down for her
she did theatre. I think the main thing people take away from the book is that
she is so much more than just Creature from the Black Lagoon. I think that was
one of our secret goals, to get people to watch some of her other movies. The
festival is doing Wings of the Hawk, it doesn’t run a lot and I don’t think
it’s run in Los Angeles in 3-D in years.
Speaking of Wings of the Hawk.
Are you looking forward to attending the screening on Friday?
JA: Yes I am. I loved working on it too. It’s nice to be in an
audience for a movie I enjoyed working on and have people enjoy it. They like
to ask questions afterwards and I enjoy answering them and talking with them
because what do we make these movies for? We make them for people to enjoy and
so it’s a great pleasure to be present when they enjoy it.
If you’d like to grab a copy of Julie Adams book, she’ll be
signing copies at the World 3-D Film Expo on Friday starting at 2:30 PM during
the screening of Wings of the Hawk, or
you can order it on-line from her website: http://www.julieadams.biz
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