Denis Meikle - A History of Horrors: The Rise and Fall of the House of Hammer

The Hammer directors, executives, and production heads, together with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, outside the greenroom at Pinewood Studios on the occasion of the presentation of the Queens Award to Industry, May 29, 1968.

The Rise and Fall of the House of Hammer
Denis Meikle

with Christopher T. Koetting, Research Associate

Revised Edition

THE SCARECROW PRESS, INC. Lanham, Maryland * Toronto * Plymouth, UK 2009
SCARECROW PRESS, INC.

Published in the United States of America
by Scarecrow Press, Inc.
A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
www.scarecrowpress.com

Estover Road
Plymouth PL6 7PY United Kingdom

Copyright (c) 2009 by Denis Meikle

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Meikle, Denis.
A history of horrors : the rise and fall of the house of Hammer / Denis Meikle with
Christopher T. Koetting. Rev. ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8108-6353-8 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8108-6353-7 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-0-8108-6354-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8108-6354-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)
[etc.]
1. Hammer Film Productions. 2. Horror films-Great Britain-History and criticism.
I. Koetting, Christopher T. II. Title.
PN1999.H3M45 2009
791.436164-dc22 2008032794

TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Manufactured in the United States of America.

When the screen gives us severed heads and hands, eyeballs dropped in a wine glass and magnified, and brains dished up like spaghetti, I can only suggest a new certificateS.O. perhaps, for Sadists Only.

Campbell Dixon, reviewing The Curse of Frankenstein , 1957

Contents

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Foreword by Peter Cushing ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction xiii

vii

Foreword

Peter Cushing, O.B.E.

Perhaps it was because Bray Studios started life as a large mansion standing in its own grounds that it always seemed to me like going home for the hols whenever I went to work therejust like Tom Merry and Harry Wharton in those splendid schoolboy yarns by Charles Hamilton in The Gem and The Magnet , which made such an impression upon me in my salad days.

In 1957, when I made my first picture for Hammer, there was no motorway as such; we took the more romantic-sounding Great West Road, via Hammersmith and Brentford, over the bridge at Kew, and then, soon, out into open country at Cranford, on to Colnbrook, Datchet, Windsor, and so to the studios at Bray, nestling beside the silver Thames. What a halcyon start to the days work!

Then there were the familiar faces to greet us with mutual affectionlike a family party, with lots of old friends all gathered together: dear Rosemary Burrows and Mrs. Molly Arbuthnot, who looked after the wardrobe department, at the same time dispensing endless and most welcome cups of tea. (Later, Rosemary married Eddie Powell, who doubled for my very dear friend Christopher Leetwo more names synonymous with Hammers success story.) Although I didnt need a toupee thirty years ago, Monty Montsash was established as resident hairdresser and kept us all in good trim.

Then there was that delightfully shy man and exceptionally clever director, Terence Fisher! What a joy it was to work with him. He knew exactly which suggestions to accept from his actors and which to discard, and was invariably right in his selection. Being somewhat inarticulate, he had an endearing idiosyncrasy. Peter, he would say, wagging his forefinger at me and then pausing for such an inordinately long time that I began to imagine he was trying to think of some polite way to tell me that my idea stank. When I could hardly bear the suspense any longer, hed suddenly give voice to his verdictThis is good!and then would immediately proceed to improve upon it!

Jack Asher was another magician, and it was rightly said of him that he painted with light. His cinematography added to those productions a lushness that belied the thrifty budgets imposed upon them. That was Hammers secret weapon, I reckongetting experts in their particular fields for key positions, backed up by the best possible supporting personnel. Two more stalwarts of similar expertise were John Wilcox and Arthur Grant, and Len Harriss unique operating of the camera can still be enjoyed by all who watch old films on television.

Anthony Hinds was one of a pool of producers in constant demand. (He was on the board of directors of the company, as well as being an accomplished writer for the screen, using John Elder as his pseudonym.) Another TonyAnthony Nelson Keysworked in the same capacity on many of the productions in which I appeared, and we often had fascinating chats about his father, Nelson Bunch Keys, who was the toast of the town in his heyday as a comedian, appearing in many of the musicals so popular at the turn of the century and into the twenties.

Phil Leakey did wonders in the makeup department, and the stills taken by the excellent Tom Edwards have become collectors pieces. As a bonus, to look after the inner man, there was the indefatigable and enchanting Mrs. Thompson. She and her staff all qualified for the cordon bleu , and had her restaurant been open to the general public, Egon Ronay would have given it the maximum number of stars!

x Foreword

The Big Boss of Hammer Productions was the late Sir James Carreras. Wisely, he seldom visited the studios, preferring to leave those he trusted to deliver the goods while he got on with promoting the products and raising the financing necessary to meet an ever-increasing demand. I met him only once at Bray (during nearly a decade), but enjoyed his hospitality and enthusiastic comments many times elsewhere. His son, Michael, often acted as producer and became the managing director in 1971. Michaels wife, Jo, is such a dear lady, and I shall always remember her kind thoughtfulness during a rather grueling period when filming Dracula and the Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires in Hong Kong and the days I subsequently spent with the family in their lovely house, deep in the heart of Gloucestershires glorious countryside.

The adjective horror has a strong pull at the box office, but I prefer fantasy , because that is what those films are. To my way of thinking, horror conjures up events that actually happen, whereas most of the capers we got up to were mere figments of the fertile brains of imaginative writers who set out to take peoples minds off everyday unpleasantnesses, if only for ninety minutes or so. Captain Clegg , She , Sword of Sherwood Forest , and Cash on Demand were pure adventure stories and proved to be just as popular as the films given an X certificate.

It is a lovely feeling for an actor to be associated with any success, and I count myself lucky to be one of the many who contributed to the output of the fabulous factory which has givenand still givessuch pleasure all over the world.