Show Producer Uses New Tactic T I 1 In Scaring Movie Goers By Johnson HOLLYWOOD I tiKA-I NEA I ex ex- expected expected to find Producer Val Lewton lAwton Lew- Lew ton Urn working ta iA a an U office decorated with human skulls skull spider pidu r w web weba aad sad creaking doors doon I was afraid to even think how bow himself him- him self might look There was wu talk that U he walked with zombies zombi s. bad bada a p speaking acquaintance with and kindred I I dement and ad preferred the Ute night We of et the tM county morgue morE to the Ute thet I t Mocambo Alter After all ap a he be was waa the man who a brand new ae technique que of Ot frightening people with such ucb horror Ilk picture u sa Toe Cat People Peo Peo- f.- f. k The Leopard titan Man aa and I 1 Walked Wafted W With a Zombie Zombi The n K 0 publicity department was wa ea caUte him lalla the OM Maharajah of and aDd the UM Sultan of oC k der d- Instead Ia tad of 01 a monster with the ther r body of Frankenstein's a playmate and the head of ot the Wolf Man tan I Ir If r f 1 found a gentleman genDeman who Jail ali he wish wu afraid algid of at dark alleys Years Yean ego ago Lew said Mid I 1 wrote novels novel for a living Urine and aDd when R K 0 was looking ft for a ahonor horror honor producer t someone told them then themI i I 1 had written horrible novels They I the word horrible for horror honor and aDd I got cot the job Secret nt of or Horror Lewton said Mid the tM secret of ot frightening fright fright- citing ening people was to make them think Glee lea em psychological cal Cat People Peo peo- subjects such uch as AI The pie pl In m which the plot was woven around a sort of mania in which the patient believes believes be be- Unu himself transformed into inlo an all animal al Sometime he be MId said a Ha shadow badow Is le more exciting than a figure The imagination can an Invent more horrors borrors hor bor- roes than Usaa action can an portray There is a psychological advantage in leaving terror tenor to the Imagination Lewton said Hid he has lots of fun tun making horror pictures There was the time Ume one of at his associates sent seat a coffin cortin to the office of one of ot their writers Inside the coffin was an actress Elizabeth EUzabeth Russell Rue ell who had bad played one of the Cat People The writer walt waited 10 30 minutes minutes min min- utes ut before Wore he got up enough nerve to open the lid Just as al he did Elisabeth started to laugh and ancS spotted the gag Loo Loose e Leopard There Thre was as also alO a time Ume Dynamite Dynamite Dyna Dyna- mite a tame black leopard got J loose oe on the set et Lewton said ald it west was very vy funny tunny because Dynamite is u such a delicate sweet creature that she wont won't even eat meat mut He said they had to douse dowe a big beef beet beefsteak beefsteak steak stuk with perfume before Dynamite Dynamite Dynamite Dyna Dyna- mite would en e smell ell it for tor a alcene scene in the picture Lewton said Hid all J his is conceptions of ot what makes up a horror scene were proved wrong when Dynamite Dyna Dna Dynamite I mite got loose lOO e. e Nobody he said so 10 much as turned a hair I could hear heat the trainer yelling The Thel l leopards leopard's pard's loose and aid people just stood tood and looked at him wondering wondering wonderIng wonder wonder- ing what he was yelling about Val Lewton once worked as a newspaper reporter in New York started writing books and one of the first romantic soap operas on the air The Luck of ot Joan Christopher Christopher Chris Chris- Then he came to Hollywood Hollywood Hollywood Holly Holly- wood to write serializations and dramatizations of ot all M-G-M M films and worked as story tory editor and head of ot research for David O. O for tor nine years before he herot got rot mixed up with cat people and zombies and leopard men |