I was startled when I discovered this recently. I was never aware up to now that our old friend Dwain Esper (Reefer/Sex Madness) was the man who acquired the rights to ‘Freaks‘ in the late 1930′s. I always knew that it was initially disowned by Tod Browning’s studio. In fact, it had a very damaging [...]
The infamous tale of Jane Bradford ‘The Cocaine Fiends’ aka ‘The Pace That Kills’ (1936) is a rather high quality affair. The sets are quite resplendent and the performances higher than one might initially expect from one of the ‘Cautionary Tales’ that we have been watching sofar. The gangsters are well presented James Cagney types, [...]
A temperance movement is a social movement against the use of alcoholic beverages. Temperance movements may criticize excessive alcohol use, promote complete abstinence, or pressure the government to enact anti-alcohol legislation. I mention this, as it was Timothy Shay (T.S.) Arthur (1809 – 1885) who originally wrote the highly successful temperance novel ‘Ten Nights In [...]
If it were the case in the 1930’s that the success of a man could be attributed to his acquisition of midgets, then Jed Buell was the Donald Trump of his day. ‘The Terror of Tiny Town’ features an ‘All Midget Cast’ of none other than ‘Jed Buell’s Midgets’. Yes folks, step right up to [...]
What could have possessed Browning to make such a bold cinematic statement that would have drastic results on what had been a lucrative career?
We return to examine the work of Dwain Esper, of ‘Reefer Madness’ fame. Two years after the success of ‘Reefer’, Esper directed ‘Sex Madness’ (aka: ‘They Must Be Told’, ‘Human Wreckage’) (1938) which was pitched as an educational cautionary feature that stood to enlighten adolescents and young adults on the perils of venereal disease. We [...]