ELECTRIC BRIDE

Since it’s June, a bridal theme seems in order, so…

Monster-of-the-Week: …how about this Bride of Frankenstein doll, I mean action figure, from ReAction Figures that I found recently on a discount table…

Notice that I had to take her “As Is.” You know, for better or worse.

I also like how she seems—not intentionally, I think—to be wearing a pantsuit. Nontraditional chic.

BRIDOLATRY

It’s the last day of June, thus…

Monster-of-the-Week: …our last day to do something bridal. How, therefore, can we not honor the greatest Bride in all Monster-dom, the title character in one of the greatest of all monster movies (& also one of the greatest of all sequels), 1935’s The Bride of Frankenstein…

Played by Elsa Lanchester (who also plays author Mary Shelley in the film’s opening scene), the Bride, fashioned by Drs. Frankenstein & Pretorius as a mate for the lonely monster (Boris Karloff), rejects her poignantly eager groom with piercing shrieks every time he approaches her. Not one for wheedling or “just being friends,” the monster pronounces “We belong dead” & blows up the laboratory, Pretorius, the Bride & himself. It’s possible he got off easy—something about The Bride’s quick, bird-like head movements, wide-eyed, wary stare & stand-offish manner suggest that as a wife, she would have been, to put it mildly, high-maintenance.