The August, 1960 issue of ESCAPADE (a typical men's magazine of the era, with some nudie photos) had a 7 page article about the making of BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE. The article talked a lot about Rex Carlton selling "points" to a bunch of "investors" who got to be in the film in exchange for "investing" in it. If you recall the film's beauty contest, a bunch of people in the audience for that scene were "investors" who had paid for the privilege of being in the movie. The article describes the bargain-basement ambience of the film's production.
It's mentioned that Adele Lamont, who does the nude scene (now available in the new DVD's supplemental section), had a contract with Warner Brothers that prevented the nudie version from being played in American theaters.
There is also a funny description of a scene that was intended to be in the film, but was discarded. There was supposed to be an invasion of the lab by rats, who would briefly "menace" the head of Virginia Leith. Rex Carlton attempted to shoot that scene, but discovered that the rats were terrible actors and concluded that the footage was more ridiculous than scary. So, the scene was discarded. According to someone who read the original shooting script, the rat scene did appear in the script. It just wasn't filmable.
That magazine is available for sale from used magazine dealers, such as Oldmags.com. Figure that it would cost you nearly 30 bucks, plus 6 bucks for Priority Mail and packaging. Someone on eBay might sell it for less than that, but I stopped using eBay when they switched to their all-Paypal policy.
The August, 1960 issue of ESCAPADE and the issue of Scary Monsters from one or two years ago are the best articles I have seen about THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE.
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TimBur77
11 years ago
Very cool. I will have to find it! I wonder if Carlton has any living relatives? Children? do you know, by any chance? Maybe someone else out there reading this may know.
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jobla
11 years ago
People who worked with Carlton were interviewed for that lengthy cover story in Scary Monsters magazine. Don't recall if any were his relatives, however.
Oldmags.com has that August, 1960 issue of ESCAPADE, but it's nearly 30 bucks before Priority Mail postage. Their service is always good. You can reserve the magazine online, and then just mail them a US postal money order if you don't wish to use Paypal (which I don't). Or, you might find it cheaper on eBay.
The publisher of Scary Monsters sells tons of old issues and reprints of monster mags, so I'm pretty certain that he would still have a copy of the BRAIN/DIE issue for sale.
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TimBur77
11 years ago
Given how he died, I'm not sure contacting any possible relative would be a good idea. But then who knows.
I just ordered the Scary Monsters issue this morning! I'm checking with a friend who deals in older Adult and Mens magazines to see if he might have a copy of that magazine of Escapade for sale. If not, I will go to oldmags.com.
http://bat115.hubpages.com/
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jobla
11 years ago
You'll enjoy both magazines.
ESCAPADE puts you at ground zero, at the time when the film was just being produced. SCARY MONSTERS gives an in-depth look at the film from a modern perspective.
According to someone who's read the shooting script, the scene with Adele Lamont posing for the dirty old men photographers was the only scene that was shot in the two versions: topless for the foreign markets, and "clothed" for the US. That distinction was actually spelled out in the shooting script, which was somewhat ahead of its time since it was written in 1959.
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TimBur77
11 years ago
Thanks for the help! I take it you are a fan of the movie? Are you in California, by any chance?
http://bat115.hubpages.com/
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jobla
11 years ago
No, I'm in the great northwest. I became a fan of the film when seeing it on TV in the mid-1960's, as a young teenager. The amount of gore, and the striptease catfight scene, were much more intense than most of the "family" movies of the day. I saw it on late night TV, and noticed that some telecasts were the uncut version while others were the shorter version.
Now, here's an unanswered question of mine. I've never met anybody who's ever seen the film in an actual movie theater. So, I'm wondering if it actually played commercial theaters? I began reading the movie section every day starting in 1960 (Seattle, then), and I don't recall seeing any ads for BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE, either at drive-in or hardtop theaters. AIP did release a number of films straight to television in the US, so perhaps the film went straight to TV?
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TimBur77
11 years ago
I would love to include interviews with Fans of the film in my project.
That's actually an unanswered question of mine, as well! None of my research has turned up a box office release in the 60s, However, it did play some drive-ins in the 70s doubled with movies like, The Thing With Two Heads, one of the Mothra or Godzilla films, The Melting Man, and I even have pics someone sent me with it advertised as playing with Jaws in Texas in 1975! Then in the 80s, A few theaters gave it the Rocky Horror Picture Show treatment.
The first time I ever saw it was in the early 80s, as a child, I got up extra early on Saturday morning to watch cartoons and caught the last half hour on the 3am movie on one of the local channels.
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jobla
11 years ago
The AFI Catalog of Feature Films 1961-70 DOES NOT list a premiere date for a theatrical exhibition of THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE, so it may well not have played theaters in the sixties. The catalog lists all known world premiere dates, even for adults-only films like MME. OLGA'S MASSAGE PARLOR, which opened in San Francisco. The fact that there is no premiere date listed for BRAIN tends to support the thesis that it didn't play theatrically.
There is an official AIP pressbook for BRAIN that shows it coupled with INVASION OF THE STAR CREATURES for a double-feature program. However, I've never seen any theatrical repro ads that prove that the double-bill actually played anywhere.
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mackjay2
11 years ago
I saw the film in 1962 on a double-bill with NIGHT TIDE. I am just about positive about that pairing, even though I was pretty young at the time. This was in a movie theater in Hartford CT
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jameselliot-1
8 years ago
I saw Brain at the cavernous Culver theater in Brooklyn NY, 1963. It was a Saturday spook matinee. I forgot what the other flick was. Culver would run films such as The Awful Dr Orloff and The Horrible Dr Hitchcock as Saturday kids' matinees. If you've seen them, you know they were very adult in content-like Brain-and still marketed to little kids. This could never happen in today's PC climate.
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Emeglis
7 years ago
THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE definitely did play theaters in 1962. It was released on a double-bill with INVASION OF THE STAR CREATURES in the spring of that year. I've seen many newspaper ads and trade magazine reviews from the '62 - '63 period.
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joeD234 (27)
3 years ago
I saw it in a movie theater somewhere around 1965 in Brooklyn NY. Of course it was the 2nd feature. Then it showed up regularly on late night television and played for years.
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