All treats, no tricks!
By PAUL KUPPERBERG
So get a witch’s shawl on,
A broomstick you can crawl on,
We’re gonna pay a call on,
The Addams Family.
—The Addams Family Theme Song by Vic Mizzy
—
Horror and comedy have been sharing a coffin for nearly as long as there have been horror movies. The mash-up makes sense: Both genres depend on timing, suspense, surprise, and the audience’s willingness to go along with something that, under ordinary circumstances, would send us running for the nearest exit.
The big difference is that when the monster jumps out of the closet, the horror movie wants us to scream while the comedy wants us to laugh at the poor schnook who opened the door.
Bob Hope was among the early practitioners of the horror-comedy, starring with Paulette Goddard in The Cat and the Canary (1939) and The Ghost Breakers (1940), which mixed haunted-house chills with Hope’s wisecracking persona, but I wanna tell ya. Hollywood got a lot of mileage out of the latter film, which was based on a play that was filmed twice before in 1914 by Cecil B. DeMille and again in 1922 (although both are lost films), and would be filmed again as Scared Stiff (1953) starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.
But it was Abbott and Costello who really brought the monsters into the comedy mainstream with what many (me included) believe to be not only the best movie melding of horror and comedy, but one of the best of the classic Universal horror movies as well, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948). Bud and Lou played their usual bewildered working stiffs, while Bela Lugosi’s Dracula, Lon Chaney Jr.’s Wolf Man, and Glenn Strange’s Frankenstein Monster played their parts straight. The contrast was the joke, and the film was successful enough to spawn a series of encounters with the Invisible Man (1951), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953), and the Mummy (1953).
(Check out our pal Jim Beard’s love letter to the flick.)
The formula has been revived in countless variations, from The Bowery Boys Meet the Monster (1954) to The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966, a personal favorite), Young Frankenstein (1974), An American Werewolf in London (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), The Frighteners (1996), Shaun of the Dead (2004), and beyond.
I’m not a horror movie fan, but I do understand the appeal: Laughter gives audiences a release from tension, while horror supplies comedy with situations that would be difficult to justify in everyday life. And if you can get a laugh out of a guy being chased by a 7-foot corpse, so much the better.
The licensed DC Comics humor titles of the 1960s featuring comedy stars Bob Hope and Jerry Lewis also got the appeal, for a while mixing those fictitious funny men with monsters and the supernatural. The Adventures of Bob Hope and The Adventures of Jerry Lewis sent their hapless stars into encounters with monsters, ghosts, and other assorted terrors, turning the conventions of horror into punchlines. The creatures that once haunted the movies were showing up in the humor titles, often in the familiar forms of Frankenstein and Dracula…
…Even though it wasn’t until 1971 that the Comics Code Authority was amended: “Vampires, ghouls, and werewolves shall be permitted to be used when handled in the classic tradition such as Frankenstein, Dracula, and other high caliber literary works written by Edgar Allan Poe, Saki, Conan Doyle, and other respected authors whose works are read in schools around the world.”
But that’s a mystery for another column! For now, for Halloween, MY 13 FAVORITE 1960s DC HORROR HUMOR Covers.
—
The Adventures of Jerry Lewis #83 (July/August 1964). Jerry encounters the classic trilogy of horror stars in this cover (likely) by Bob Oskner.
—
The Adventures of Jerry Lewis #86 (January/February 1965). ’Twas stupidity killed the beast! King Kong is sorry he ever left Skull Island! Art by Oksner.
—
The Adventures of Jerry Lewis #87 (March/April 1965). His Mummy should have warned him about knocking on strange doors. Art by Oksner.
—
The Adventures of Jerry Lewis #90 (September/October 1965). Please note the milk squirting out of Jerry’s ear. Art by Oksner.
—
The Adventures of Bob Hope #96 (October/November 1965). Like, what could be better than monsters and Super-Hip? How about just the monsters! Art by Oksner.
—
The Adventures of Jerry Lewis #93 (March/April 1966). Garters for men were still funny in 1966! Art by Oksner.
—
The Adventures of Bob Hope #98 (April/May 1966). So were hot rods! Art by Oksner.
—
The Adventures of Jerry Lewis #94 (May/June 1966). One monster, two sight gags! “G.I. Joe 18th Century Toy Co.” and the mummified bat flying out of the sarcophagus. Art by Oksner.
—
The Fox and the Crow #102 (February/March 1967). Frankly, I think this cover sphinx! Just a pun, people! In reality, it’s a lovely piece, credited to Mort Drucker.
—
The Adventures of Bob Hope #106 (August/September 1967). Before Neal Adams was N*E*A*L A*D*A*M*S, he was Neal Adams and he drew wacky stuff like covers for The Adventures of Bob Hope!
—
The Adventures of Bob Hope #107 (October/November 1967). More than one, in fact!
—
The Adventures of Bob Hope #108 (December 1967/January 1968). And he proved he could also draw a penny farthing!
—
The Adventures of Bob Hope #109 (February/March 1968). And close out the last issue of the title — and this installment of my column!
Happy Halloween! I’ll take any candy corn and Almond Joys you guys don’t want!
—
MORE
— Dig These 13 Creepily Cool Things About ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN. Click here.
— 13 HALLOWEEN COVERS to Get You Ready for Trick-or-Treating. Click here.
—
PAUL KUPPERBERG was a Silver Age fan who grew up to become a Bronze Age comic book creator, writer of Superman, the Doom Patrol, and Green Lantern, creator of Arion Lord of Atlantis, Checkmate, and Takion, and slayer of Aquababy, Archie, and Vigilante. He is the Harvey and Eisner Award nominated writer of Archie Comics’ Life with Archie, and his YA novel Kevin was nominated for a GLAAD media award and won a Scribe Award from the IAMTW. Check out his memoir, Panel by Panel: My Comic Book Life.
Website: https://www.paulkupperberg.net/
Shop: https://www.paulkupperberg.net/shop-1
