Boris Karloff Article

I'd like to offer some background on the remark in the article about Arsenic and Old Lace: "He would later be passed on for the film version."

Karloff wasn't actually "passed on;" it's simply that the play was still a hot ticket on Broadway when Capra shot his film in the closing weeks of 1941 and, while they were willing to release Hutchinson, Adair and Alexander to go west and recreate their roles for the film, the play's producers refused to do so for Karloff.

At the time of production, the agreement Warner Bros had with the play's producers was that it wouldn't be released during the show's B'way run. What no one expected was that it would last for over three years, which accounts for the film's 1944 release date.

When the play opened in January '41, Karloff hadn't set foot on a stage for over 20 years, and as the opening approached, he grew increasingly nervous, to the point where he spent most of the night before walking the streets of Manhattan trying to figure out a way to withdraw from it.

So sure was he that the play - and he - would flop that, when the producers had offered him a 10% interest, Karloff opted out. A month into the run, when it was a sure and solid hit, those producers informed him that they'd withheld that 10% and repeated their offer, which he was then grateful to accept, and which netted him quite a tidy profit in succeeding months and years.


Poe! You are...avenged!