September 7 - George Waggner

 

Happy Birthday, George Waggner! Born today in 1894, this American film actor, writer, producer and director was chiefly responsible for bringing the allure of werewolf mythology into modern American pop culture. 

Waggner studied and graduated from the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. Afterwards, he trained as a chemist and served in World War I before coming to Hollywood to pursue a career as an actor.  

  

He eventually made his film debut as an actor, portraying Yousayef. This was in American stage and film actor, director, producer, and screenwriter George Melford's 1921 American silent black and white romantic drama independent film 'The Sheik'. 

  

Waggner began his career as a silent film actor, became a songwriter with the advent of sound and moved into screenwriting and directing in the 1930s. 

  

Waggner later went on to appearances in Western films. The first film he directed was the fifty-eight-minute 1938 American black and white Western film 'Western Trails'.  

  

During his career as a film director, Waggner worked with Lon Chaney Jr. in the 1941 American black and white horror/sci-fi film 'Man Made Monster'. The film was released in March for Universal Pictures. 

  

Later that same year in December, Waggner had worked again with Chaney Jr. to make another monster movie. This time, it would be Chaney's best-known film role.  

  

It would also be the film of which Waggner is best known for producing and directing. This was the 1941 American black and white horror/monster film 'The Wolf Man'. 

  

Stories about the make-up and transformation scenes have become legendary, and are mostly apocryphal. 

The transformation of Chaney from man into monster was certainly laborious. The series of makeups took five to six hours to apply, and an hour to remove.  

  

American Hollywood pioneer monster makeup artist Jack Pierce had originally designed it for American character actor Henry Hull.

This was for American producer and director in theatre and motion pictures Stuart Walker's 1935 American black and white/werewolf fiction horror film 'Werewolf of London'.  

  

However, Hull argued that the disguise made no sense within the plot, since two characters had to recognize "Dr. Glendon" even in his werewolf form.  

  

Pierce was ordered to design a second version which left more of Hull's face recognizable. Pierce then recycled his original design for the 1941 film. 

  

Chaney claimed he was forced to sit motionless for hours as the scenes were shot frame by frame. At times he claimed he was left to remain sitting while the crew broke for lunch and was also equivocal about using the bathroom.  

  

Chaney even went as far as saying special effects men drove tiny finishing nails into the skin on the sides of his hands so they would remain motionless during close ups. However, there may have been some exaggeration involved.  

  

What really happened was a plaster mold was made to hold Chaney's head absolutely still as his image was photographed and his outline drawn on panes of glass in front of the camera. 

Chaney then went to Pierce's department, where Pierce, using grease paint, a rubber snout appliance and a series of wigs, glued layers of yak hair to Chaney's face.  

  

After this, Chaney would return to the set, line himself up using the panes of glass as reference and several feet of film were shot. 

Then Chaney would return to the make-up department, a new layer was applied, showing the transformation further along, then returned to the sound stage.  

  

This was done about a half-dozen times. Talbot's lap dissolve transformation on screen only took seconds, while Chaney's took almost ten hours. 

  

To this day, 'The Wolf Man' is one of three top-tier Universal Studios monsters without a direct literary source.  

  

The others are the 1932 American pre-Code black and white horror film 'The Mummy' and the 1954 American black and white 3D monster horror film 'Creature from the Black Lagoon'. 

  

On Rotten Tomatoes, the site's critical consensus reads, "A handsomely told tale with an affecting performance from Lon Chaney, Jr., The Wolf Man remains one of the classics of the Universal horror stable."  

  

American film critic, film historian and author Leonard Maltin awarded the film 3.5 out of 4 stars, calling it "One of the finest horror films ever made". 

In his review, Maltin praised the film's make-up effects, atmospheric music, and Chaney's performance. 

  

In the 1960s, Waggner moved from cinema to television, directing episodes of notable television programs. 

These included Maverick (1957–1962), 77 Sunset Strip (1958–1964), The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964–1968), The Green Hornet (1966–1967), and Batman (1966–1968). 

  

During his career as a film director, Waggner also wrote songs which appeared in his films, beginning with "Round, White, and Ruby Red" from Operation Pacific. By the end of his career, he had written over one hundred songs. 

  

For some unknown reason, Waggner sometimes configured his name in mostly lowercase letters but with his surname's two Gs capitalized ("waGGner"), including in the credits of some of the productions he directed. 

  

Waggner passed from natural causes in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California on December 11, 1984. He was 90. 

  

Waggner is survived by his daughter Shy (b. 1924). She is 96. Shy is credited as Friend in her father's 1949 American black and white Western/action adventure film 'The Fighting Kentuckian'. The film starred John Wayne, Vera Ralston, Paul Fix, and Oliver Hardy. 

  

Alos known as Joseph West, Waggner had been active from 1920–1963. 

  

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