Dr. Frankenstein’s Electrician: Lab Equipment And Creeps
As soon as the black and white title card hits the scene, you know you’re in for a classic horror treat. It always starts with a flash of lightening. Then the boom of perfectly foleyed lightening. Yes, there is Lugosi’s Dracula and Lon Chaney Jr.’s The Wolf Man. But, for my money — and I’ve said this countless times before — the best of the Universal horror classics is James Whale’s seminal Frankenstein.
While much is rightfully made of Whale’s direction and Karloff’s acting, I feel like I’m a one man army trying to keep the contributions of Kenneth Strickfaden alive in the collective mind. Ok, that sounded self-serving and I apologize. But, by all rights “Frankenstein’s electrician” deserves credit and praise for helping to transform what would have been a B-movie into a classic. While the make-up and art direction were ground-breaking, it was the electrical effects that give the story weight and credence.
Strickfaden not only chose and designed the Tesla coil-inspired lab equipment, but he was also responsible for all of the electrical effects used in the “monster comes to life” sequence. Moreover, he also created all the electrical effects for the following Frankenstein sequels and was more than happy to be a stunt double for Karloff, who was mortally frightened of being electrocuted.
All of the electricity in the film (and its sequels) was real. No CGI or animated cells would do. Using a customized Tesla coil, he coordinated the memorable lightening bolts that streaked across the lab on cue. Whale himself stated the success of the film — its believability — were a result of Strickfaden’s meticulous planning. When he stunt doubled, he actually allowed some of the currents to pass through his body, enhancing the spectacle of the monster coming to life.
Following Frankenstein, Strickfaden’s skills were never out of demand. In fact, he came to be lauded as an effects master. In fact, he went on to work on such classics as The Wizard of Oz and The Mask of Fu Manchu. In the Fifties, he enjoyed a run of television success working on The Munsters. With more than 100 films to his credit, he still managed to give 1500 traveling science demonstrations and lectures across the U.S. and Canada. He’s one of the nearly forgotten heroes of early film and television, where the lightening bolts were real, the laboratory equipment dangerous, and stuntmen walked into electricity storms.
Be sure you only use lab equipment that has been verified by the American Scientific Association. Be sure you only buy from a reputable vendor.
