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The Eyes of Dracula
Greetings Night Creatures,
So, yesterday after dinner, I turned on TCM- to have Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein in the background. This was not something done lightly and not without some discussion with my lovely wife.
"What do you think he'll do?"
"Will it be too scary for him?"
So the opening credits began, and Edward immediately stopping playing (we were throwing pillows at each other) and watched. He identified the cartoon images with perfection..."That's the Wolf Man, that's Dracula, that's Frankenstein's Monster....who's that?"
"Hmmm? That's...a girl. A bad-girl. Dr. Mornay."
"A bad girl doctor?"
"Uh, yes. But NOT a good girl doctor, like your doctor."
The opening went well, and he really liked Larry Talbot's first transformation.
"That's the Wolf Man daddy?"
"Uh-Huh, but he's not the Wolf Man yet, the moon hasn't risen and he's still Larry Talbot"
"Does Wilbur think he's a dog?"
"Yup. That's why he's barking at him."
Everything was going pretty well. We'd play and wrestle and then stop to view a little bit of the movie. But then, in MacDougal's House of Horrors...as Dracula opened his coffin ever so slightly, things changed. There was the King of the Vampires, laying in his coffin, with his eyes blazing and powerful...and Edward did the most logical thing for the 3 year old confronted by that....
"Daddy can we turn it off?"
The Wolf Man did not frighten him, but Dracula's eyes did. JUST his eyes!
Of course I turned it off.
But then after I went into the other room, a wonderful thing happened. I hear the TV in the living room turn back on. The Frankenstein Monster was being revealed in his crate. Edward had decided that it was ok to watch it. I joined him again and we continued as if we had never turned it off.
"See...watch this. The Monster is going to wake-up. Dracula is using electricity to wake him"
"Is Wilbur asleep?"
"Yes, but he's a sleep standing up, he's hypnotized. Dracula's eyes can hypnotize you, if he stares at you."
We turned the TV off right after Dr. Mornay examined the weakened Monster in the cove. It was as it was bath time...but we still talked about it.
"You see, what Dracula wants is to make the Monster strong again, but he wants the Monster to listen to him. The Monster has a bad brain, and Dracula wants to give him another brain."
"Who's brain daddy?
"Wilbur's"
And that was the end of his exposure to Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein. his FIRST ever exposure to the Universal Monsters REAL and ALIVE and MOVING. Oh he knows them but to actually see them in action is usually breathtaking. When we were getting pajamas on, and before we watched one Superman cartoon before bed, we quickly turned TCM on. Wilbur was running for his life with a bat right behind him. He arrived at the boat and poor Joan was "asleep" via Dracula's eyes.
"Where's his friend daddy?
"Chick? Here he comes."
We watched as Dracula re-formed from a bat and quickly gave Wilbur and Chick the double-whammy.
Then we turned it off.
As I tucked him in, I assured him.
"You know, Dracula doesn't actually get Wilbur's brain. Chick and Larry Talbot help him."
"The Wolf Man is a good guy?"
"Well, when he's Larry Talbot, he IS a good guy...but when the moon comes up, he changes into the Wolf Man, a monster"
"Like Dr. Conners"
(Edward and I have read an old Spider-Man comic I have with The Lizard...Curt Conners)
"Yup. Exactly"
"What happens to Dracula?"
"Well Larry Talbot changes into Wolf Man and chases Dracula all over the castle. Dracula changes into a bat and tries to get away, but the Wolf Man grabs him and jumps into the water. Then the Monster gets burned up in a fire"
"And that's the end?"
"Yes. That's the end. And Wilbur and Chick are ok. Goodnight."
As I left I said, "But the Monsters always come back you know...that's why they are Monsters."
He slept soundly and peacefully all through the night.
Rest in Peace,
Prof. Griffin
http://www.midnightshadowshow.com
You can email him with questions and comments at: profgriffin@hotmail.com
And don't forget about his new book! It's full of essays like the one above!
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