Short: (1941) A Chevrolet sales manager wonders why his team is having trouble selling their product door-to-door.
Movie: (1956) A mad scientist’s efforts to create a race of supermen attract the attention of a reporter and the police.
First shown: 1/23/93
Opening: Joel gets to see what Crow is dreaming … and soon regrets it
Invention exchange: The tough love seat, microwave Faith Popcorn
Host segment 1: “Hired!” the musical
Host segment 2: Joel, Tom and Crow’s discussion rambles from the lame octopus to food monsters
Host segment 3: Willy the Waffle returns to defend advertising
End: Cambot re-edits the ending of the movie, letter, the Mads are playing Bela and Tor
Stinger: Bela has looked better
(231 votes, average: 4.61 out of 5)
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• I try not to overuse the already-overused word “classic” but this is one. It’s got a wacky short, an Ed Wood movie (probably his most competent, which isn’t saying much) and we’ve all seen all that backstory in the “Ed Wood” film. The host segments are good to fair, but they’re certainly not awful, and the riffing is top-notch.
• This episode was included in Shout’s “Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection: Vol. XIX.”
• This show first aired three days after the beginning of the Clinton administration. It was certainly made before then, but probably after Bubba’s election, which allows Crow to talk about “The Bush Administration” in the past tense early in the short.
• Joel’s horrified, slightly nauseated take to the camera at the end of the opening is great.
• Then-topical: Faith Popcorn (though she would probably disagree that she isn’t still topical; she’s still around).
• At what point were door-to-door car salesmen discontinued? I never knew they existed before this short.
• If you look carefully you’ll notice that one of the houses the salesman visits is the house where Gilbert the spring lover lived in “A Case of Spring Fever.”
• “Hired, the Musical” is a lot of fun. I especially like Joel’s pained takes to the camera when Gypsy sings.
• My old copy of this episode (before it was released on DVD) is from January, 1995, and it features some fairly hilarious commercials for The Sporting News, in which they attempt to sell you a subscription on the quaint notion of not being able to get out-of-town scores in your local paper. If only somebody would invent the internet!
• Segment 2 is what the kids today call “random.” I have a feeling it’s a slightly stylized version of a actual conversation among the Brains.
• In this movie, Bela does his classic “sleep” bit, complete with the hand gesture. And yet the cast have been referencing it for at least two seasons. Were they just making a reference to a movie they assumed we’d seen?
• Crow references two elements of the classic driver’s ed Smith System: “Hands at 10 and 2” and “watch your space cushion.” Can anybody name the other three?
• Tom Servo does a lovely Flash Bazbo impression.
• The scene where the captain goes to see the file lady who has a pencil behind her ear when shot from behind, and doesn’t have one when she’s shot from the front, brought back a great memory: I remember pointing it out to my daughter, who was about six at the time, and I remember she found it hilarious and asked me to rerun it over and over.
• The random segment 2 is followed by the complete non-sequitur of segment 3. What does advertising have to do with anything?
• As is often the case, you can often spot where BBI has made cuts for times: usually at the spots where the commercials have been inserted.
• Callbacks: Tom says: “Weird! That’s what it is. Weird.” (Ring of Terror); “Hi, Bavaro.” (Crash of Moons); Willy says “Knew your father I did!” (Mr B Natural); I’m a Grimault warrior!” (Viking Women)
• It’s pronounced REK-yah-veek! As in: “One day in Iceland can Reykjavik!”
• I wonder how many other military bases were showing eps on their TV stations?
• Cast and crew roundup: Of course, Eddie also directed “The Sinister Urge” and wrote the script for “The Violent Years.” Conrad Brooks was also in “The Sinister Urge,” and “The Beast of Yucca Flats.” Eddie Parker was one of the stuntmen who played the mutant monster in “This Island Earth” and had a bit part in “Undersea Kingdom.” Screenwriter Alex Gordon was the producer for “The She-Creature.” Cinematographer William C. Thompson also worked on “The Violent Years,” “The Sinister Urge,” “Project Moon Base” and “Racket Girls.” Make up guy Louis J. Haszillo also worked on “The Girl in Lovers Lane.” Make up guy Harry Thomas also worked on “Project Moonbase,” “Racket Girls,” “The Mad Monster,” “The Unearthly,” “Invasion USA,” “High School Big Shot” and “Night of the Blood Beast.” Sound guy Lyle Willey also worked on “Robot Monster.” Technical advisor Igo Kantor also worked on “Women of the Prehistoric Planet” and did music editing for “The Human Duplicators.” Score composer Frank Worth acted in “The Beatniks.”
In front of the camera, of course, Bela was in “The Corpse Vanishes” and “The Phantom Creeps.” Tor was also in “The Unearthly” and “The Beast of Yucca Flats. Harvey B. Dunn was in “The Sinister Urge” and “Teenagers From Outer Space.” George Becwar was also in “War of the Colossal Beast.”
• CreditsWatch: Host segments directed by Kevin Murphy. Camera: John Finley. “Hired! Song” written and arranged by Micheal J. Nelson and Kevin Murphy. “This episode dedicated to the spirit of William A. Murphy. Thanks, Dad.”
• Fave line from short: “You’ve killed again, haven’t you, son?” Honorable mention: “…And I don’t have a car … HEY!”
• Fave riff from feature: “Nobody’s kissin’ the bird today…” Honorable mention: “Tor go to DeVry.”
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I teach Sales Management and use the “Hired!” clips for the first class. Despite the riffs, it has some good advice for teaching salespersons. I DO however leave in the MST3K clips. Helps move it along.
Favorite slow-to-sink-in-but-big-laugh student riff: “Gravity at work!”
They love the booze riff “Time for booze!”
#17 completely agree, Ed Wood may have had a flawed vision but his films showed some focus, stimatized as it was. Coleman Frances seems to have picked up a camera, conned some people into making a movie, and spent the 90% of the time in editing coming up with a plot.
@ #87,
Been car shopping recently? They *still* do that only instead of stopping by your house they just send you e-mails, cards through the mail and call your house obsessively.
It’s annoying and one of the reasons why I don’t like buying cars.
The “Sleeep!” line could be referencing a guest on the David Letterman Show back in the 80s: he was a hypnotist who claimed he could put people under instantly. He would give the subject a sort of hug and shout “sleep!” – and the subject was supposed to go limp. Here is the bit, which I saw when it first aired: http://www.veoh.com/watch/v18276963JZKNN878 (At 6:10 he finally gets to the hypnotizing) So maybe not what the Brains were referencing, but it connected in my head to this snippet of tv. :lashes:
touches, #98:
Wow, I had no idea that a bona fide Holmes fandom community existed that early–the Irregulars certainly sound like everything you’d find in a modern fandom group. Thanks for posting this–I’m definitely going to look into it further.
I suppose you could include Jane Austen in the same category as Holmes, since “Janeites” have been around for a while (and generally derided by serious Austen scholars). I’m not sure if a Dickens community grew up the same way–people certainly obsessed about the books as they were being published (I’ve heard that parliament adjourned early on days when the next installments were coming out, so MPs could get their copies), but I don’t think that’s the same thing as gathering together to comment and discuss minor details of continuity or character development or suchlike.
But my original question (implied by the flippant comment) still stands–was there a group that was treating B-movies like “Bride of the Monster” in the same way, or was this simply regarded as trashy, ephemeral entertainment? Would anyone going to this movie have really cared about the scientific premises or what country the Lugosi character is from? After all, it’s one thing to obsess over details in a Holmes story; quite another to consider the scientific or geographical accuracy of Ed Wood.
@8 “My personal favorite Ed Wood trilogy is Plan 9 followed by Bride of the Monster followed by Johnny Depp’s Ed Wood.”
Wow, I’d have to agree with you there. I saw “Ed Wood” before I saw “Bride of the Monster,” and it was OK but not that great, I thought. Then, having seen BotM, I went back and watched “Ed Wood” again and it was ten times more meaningful. Even Martin Landau’s performance struck me differently. EW seemed like a kid with a new set of Tinkertoys — by God, he was going to stick all those pieces together the way he thought they should go, not like how they looked on the box!
I think everyone’s entitled to his or her opinion and know not everybody likes this episode, but I’m in the camp that says it’s a real MST3K classic. Plus, whenever there’s some disaster around our house, like a fence that fell down or a burned dinner, I say, “He tampered in God’s domain.” Just because I can.
104 – thanks for that, it’s quite a hoot. I wouldn’t be surprised at all that Joel knew that guy – the world of stand up comics/magician(etc)s is a pretty small one. From the late 80s you had Joel, Harry Anderson, Penn + Teller, Amazing Jonathon, Super Dave Osborne. P+T and A.J. were just getting started, too.
This episode strenghten my love for Edward D. Wood Jr. and for Bela Lugosi, his speech was the best part, but it was hard for me to concentrate in the riffing in during that part. Great episode overall. Godspeed, mr Wood! You were a true misunderstood genius, your movies were too much for our stupid, stupid human minds.
Pulled this up on YouTube the other night and it began with the “Turn your Lights down” message. Is that how it begins normally or did the person who uploaded it add that? Would seem strange since they did it away with that many episodes ago.
@104 – I don’t think “SLEEEEP!” was in reference to anything specific; I remember it turning up in the early seasons whenever a movie character said “You look like you’re ready to fall asleep.” (Which, put together, also sounded like hypnotism.)
@62 – Crow [as Warren]: A.K.A., the “Pantsless Salesman”? The “Piddling Peddler”?!
Okay, together with the bird commentary, that makes TWO riffs in the movie that give me the uncontrollable giggles every time. Most episodes are lucky to get one. :)
@86 – Has there been a lot of talk on this site about how Tim Burton’s Ed Wood was the perfect MST3K movie (besides the MST3K movie)?
Well, there was the Ballyhoo documentary on the Shout MST3K disk that said that Tim’s movie was pretty much a crock fantasia based on two pages of the Golden Turkey Awards:
Bride was Alex Gordon’s storyline, Gordon introduced Wood to Lugosi as a possible star, and yet never even exists in Burton’s universe.
Think that’s as close as Tim’s movie and MST3K have ever associated.
(Although that could be journalistic bias, as Alex was the brother of Richard Gordon, who they were already interviewing for Devil Doll.)
#110: Shut up, just shut up, you DISGUSTING WOOOORM!
Bela putting on his labcoat:
SERVO: It’s a sinister day in the laboratory, a sinister day in the lab… Hello!
JOEL: Hey, it’s Dr. Clayton Forrester!
‘BOTS: (Laughing)
CROW: Jerk!
—
One of the all time classic moments. Obviously, Dr. F isn’t paying THAT much attention to the boys… 8-)
@98: Also Singin’ in the Rain for a fictional depiction of movie fanGIRLS in the 1920s. They even have their own magazines.
Several years ago I discovered that this episode originally premiered on my 10th birthday. Unfortunately we didn’t get Comedy Central at the time. I didn’t discover MST3K until two years later when it aired in syndication on WBNA TV-21. Nonetheless, I still think of this as my “birthday episode”.
I think Ed Wood’s movies are way more entertaining than the ones made by Coleman Francis. I could see myself watching an Ed Wood film unriffed, but I can’t think of a situation where I’d settle in for a Coleman Francis film without Mike and the bots. To me, that makes Wood a better director.
Definitely one of my favorite episodes.
A while back, I went to a theater that was having a revival showing of “The Tingler”. (No, the seats weren’t wired, but the audience did scream.) The advertised second feature didn’t come in, so the theater manager put on “Bride of the Monster” instead. I certainly didn’t complain.
Oh, and Lugosi did the “must increase my bust” hand thing back in “White Zombie”, made not long after “Dracula”. I guess Lugosi decided to just pull something out of the trunk, rather than make up a new one.
The only two bits in the Burton film which their creative staff acknowledged as pure BS are the scene where Ed first meets Cathy and the scene at the bar where he talks to Orson Wells. But of course there was plenty more of that sort of thing. The most glaring one is where Bela goes off on a rant over Boris Karloff. Sure it’s funny, but no more based in reality than the Jack Benny/Fred Allen feud.
@117 – Also, Jail Bait had turned a surprise profit, so Wood already had a reputation as a quick-returns screenwriter for crime-delinquent scripts by the time he did Glen/Glenda.
(Oh, and Ed didn’t film the Plan 9 home movies just to cheer Bela up–In the actual newsreels of Lugosi’s rehab, Bela tells reporters “I’m just about to start filming on ‘The Ghoul Goes West’!” The project fell through, of course, and the test footage was all that was left.)
Late to the party. Absolutely love the short. Perhaps my favorite one they ever did. Basically have it memorized. Never got as much out of the movie, even though it was the second episode that I saw. A lot of great riffs, but for some reason it never gelled with me as much as some of the other classics. Even if the feature were a complete dud, which it isn’t, the short more than makes up for it.
“Gravity at work” – has me rolling every time I see it.
The best riffs were related to Tor:
“Me Lobo, me your waiter!”
“Really makes you think, don’t it?”
“Tor take classes at DeVry.”
“Lobo’s philosophy is: Do you want it done quick, or do you want it done right?”
This is one of those films that all MSTiess have in their folders. One that everyone else thinks is great, but I have never really liked. Not outwardly avoided at all cost, like “Wild World of Batwoman”, just don’t really care for it and zipped past when it was on my VHS tape (Always recorded in SLP. Hey, I was young, what did I know?)
Never found “Hired!” part 1 or 2 really that interesting or enjoyable, and the movie and riffs were OK, but not worth my time anymore.
We all have theses in our collections, and we all disagree when others post theirs. This is MY fair to midland.
After watching the invention exchange feature on the DVD, I had to go to that Faith Popcorn site. Having never seen nor read Faith Popcorn back in the day, I have to ask if this Faith Popcorn was always just a marketing tool to get people to pay for these “trends” or was it more of an entertainment piece back then? I did enjoy the website though.
I am a huge Ed Wood fan (check the web site) and I’ve never particularly liked this episode. They rely too heavily on jokes about Bela’s addiction for my tastes (which would be pretty much *any* jokes about it) and just don’t eke enough non-nasty material out of the film. The short is much better, but the second half used in the “Manos” episode works better and is funnier.
The only really good thing about this episode is “Hired: The Musical”, which is absolutely brilliantly conceived and executed. But it’s not enough to get me to watch this one very often. I prefer it un-riffed.
Saw Tim Burton’s “Ed Wood” for the first time a few months back. Terrific movie (Deep’s and Burton’s best work together, and what a killer supporting cast: Murray, Lisa Marie, Landau, Jones, Spradlin, etc.) but, as someone who doesn’t think much of the real Ed Wood’s work/skills outside of them being great fodder for “MST3K”/Rifftrax, the humanizing of the people/events behind the making of “Bride of the Monsters” actually hinders a little my enjoyment of Joel & the bots’ riffs. It’s not like the movie is an untouchable monument that can’t be torn to shreds skillfully; quite the opposite, it’s the very reason (as Joel says in a DVD extra) why a show like “MST3K” came about when it did. But you almost feel the Brains dialing down their jokes out of respect and deference to the fact a well-known “bad” movie/director has reached them (as opposed to them building-from-nothing the reps of the likes of Coleman Francis and Anthony Cardoza as “bad auters”). The scene with Bella’s speech about ‘Home’ is a perfect example: the riffs are lame-to-forgettable, almost as if the Brains don’t want to deny the “MST3K” audience the chance to admire more Bela’s scene/dialogue where he’s actually somewhat compelling than their own jokes.
I guess what I’m saying is, funny as “Bride of the Monster” is (not howl-till-you-cry funny but consistently amusing: ‘Buck Henry meets Elmer Fudd,’ ‘have we met?,’ ‘now he has the strength of 20 heroine addicts’ :shock: ), it doesn’t live to the advance billing and hype of ‘”MST3K” does an Ed Wood movie’ but it’s still an enjoyable as an average-to-good “MST3K” experiment. “Bride’s” notoriety/rep. in the Wood and Burton movie canons do give the movie/jokes a pathos most other “MST3K” movies lack for us not knowing the people behind them. The non-sequitur host segments (specifically the Coily-insired Waffles) and lame-o invention exchange (‘Pop’ Corn was lame in ’93 and it’s even less fun plus archaic in 2012) don’t help much, but the first part of “Hired!” (not as funny as the much-better-known-and-watched-more-often “Hired! Part II”) and the insanely enjoyable/well made ‘Hired: The Musical’ host segment (an instant classic) leading directly into the feature make this an almost-mandatory part of any self-described MiSTie’s permanent collection.
FOUR STARS (out of five) for “Bride of the Monster,” and I almost went with 4 1/2 because of “Hired: The Musical” alone. Favorite riff: ‘Gravity at work.’ :eek:
Bride of the Monster passes the Bechdel Test. Janet and Tillie discuss the ownership of the Old Willow Place. Plus Janet and Margie talk about Janet’s news story.
While some of Jimmy’s problems can be attributed to bad luck, it was pretty sad when that guy asked a technical question and he gave such an unconvincing response.
A possibly amusing anecdote. A while back, I was binging through episodes of a gaming podcast called Rolling Dice and Taking Names, co-hosted by two guys named Tony and Marty. I happened to listen to another episode of RDTN right after watching Bride of the Monster. As I heard the name Marty repeated frequently, a weird subsection of my brain imagined the two of them driving to a con and Tony reciting Crow’s riffs concerning Marty’s bad driving.
…an Ed Wood movie (probably his most competent, which isn’t saying much)…
A better descriptor might be his least incompetent film.
@ #17: Wait, when did an Atlanta baseball team start calling the shots for MST3K?
@ #123: The hell? I only recall one riff referring to his heroin addiction. I suppose I may have missed a couple, but it was hardly at the same level as, “Are you ready for some football?” that you saw in Laserblast.
Favorite riffs
Guess I shouldn’t be trying to sell cars in Amish country.
“I thought I knew something about trucks.”
But I was living a horrible lie.
“But that’s way over on the other side of town.”
And I don’t have a car. HEY!
Mr. Wood’s wardrobe by Mrs. Wood.
Embrace death, Roy.
No one will be seated during the gripping water cooler scene.
“There’s one nice thing about birds. They never cause anybody any trouble.”
Yeah, tell that to Tippie Hedron.
Scooch over, Mr. Hoffa.
“Strange sort of bird.”
Don’t talk about my bird.
Big rubber snake. Better call AAA.
“No one has heard from her since yesterday afternoon.”
Check the Bates Motel.
I’m so sorry. He’s from Barcelona.
You’ve got spunk. I hate spunk.
Hello. I’m the worthless ancillary character waiting to be killed off.
“I don’t intend to return home.”
Not ’til Mom says she’s sorry.
We do have fun. Sorry about the whipping earlier.
If anyone can find just cause to stop this movie, speak now or forever hold your peace.
The generic police are just as good as the brand name ones, but they’re cheaper.
Gee Tor, you’re nice and everything. I hope you understand. I just kind of love you like the fat, bald brother I never had.
Well, this is the only spooky place in the marsh. Must be it.
Now he’s got the strength of twenty heroin addicts.
I’m going to go make Plan 9. I’ll be right back.
Trevor the Whisper Thin Cop.
Every once in a while the “I must increase my bust” rhyme in the Legosi voice just pops into my head out of nowhere and I crack up, much to the confusion of anyone near me.
Are you mad?
What the hell do YOU think?
Another fantastic episode! Not counted as one of my all-time favorites, but still pretty high on the overall list. Several random weird things in the movie too, like the police chief’s bird & the newspaper bit (was that a common problem or something? Secretary’s & whatnot messing up newspapers before giving them to their bosses?).
Question about Hired! – was it really OK back then for salesmen to harass people at their work?
………I’m a DEAD MAN!
A Classic ep for me. I was into Edward D. Wood even prior to MST. I agree with Sampo that Bride is probably Ed Wood’s most competent film. I suspect that is due to the screenplay being co-written with Alex Gorden. I though their co-penned Jailbait’s twist ending was actually rather clever. Watch Bride first, and then watch Plan 9 and you see a huge shift of course in quality of the script and film making. I suppose Wood had a better starting running off point at the beginning of this film making career and then it went of the cliff later as he surrounded himself with his “stable” of eccentric personalities and the money got harder to raise.
“Hey, big boy”
TURN IT OFF!!!
Regarding the Junkie Bela jokes, off the top of my head I can think of “now he’s got the strength of TWENTY heroin addicts!” and Crow tapping his arm during the host segment where they played Bela.
“Hired! – the musical” is, bar none, my all time favorite host segment.
“Surround the house” All TWO of you!
This one starts strong and just keeps going. For years after seeing Manos on it’s Rhino release I’d wanted to see the first half of Hired and when I finally did, it’s just as funny if not moreso. Although, it is sobering to see 1941 on all the promotional material in the film (‘If you turn the pages real fast, the car seems to move!’ :laugh: ) knowing that by the end of that year America would have a lot more to deal with than just whether Chevy knew how to sell cars.
As for the movie, it runs hot and cold. Others have mentioned how Ed Wood could think of good movies but just couldn’t nail the follow through. I wonder if the scenes where Bela actually shows us he still had some of the old acting mojo (such as his initial scene with the reporter) were the ones where Wood stepped back a bit, versus those final closeups where Bela’s pulling those ridiculous faces.
I’ve always thought some of the jokes they do are just for them. While some folks no doubt were familiar with this movie, the reappearance of Willie the Waffle, based on Coily, from a short film that no one except them had ever seen at that point shows sometimes they’re just having fun for themselves. The right people will get it, even if we had to wait until 1012 to fully understand.
Even though he’s been out of the loop for most of the movie, the captain is right away all “he tampered in God’s domain.” That’s kind of subjective, cap, maybe you should wait until you acquire facts of some sort?
At least Bela finally broke his pattern of victimizing people to treat an ailing wife. He pulled that gag in at least four films:
Invisible Ghost (1941)
The Corpse Vanishes (1942) (riffed by MST3K)
Voodoo Man (1944) (riffed by Rifftrax)
The Black Sleep (1956)
Idly wondering what state the film might have taken place in, I checked Wikipedia (so, you know…) and there’s a Marsh Lake in South Dakota. Yes, scenic South Dakota, home state not only of Bob Barker, L. Frank Baum, and Mamie “Girls Town” Van Doren, but of Harvey B. Dunn himself. Oh it’s TRUE…
There are also three listings for Marsh Lakes in Minnesota. ‘Course, I don’t know nothin’ ’bout that…
addendum/correction:
Oops, I should’ve said “*Lake* MARSH in South Dakota.” Sorry about that. :-|
Sure, it’s in the heart of the scenic Mountain Hills, not far from Toponym Place.
Well, yeah, but I mistakenly said “Marsh Lake” at that point and I wanted to clarify that I saw it f
Oh, wait, I see what you did there. ;-)
Anyway, the fact that Harvey B. Dunn was from South Dakota seems a good enough reason to “decide” that the film’s events occurred in South Dakota. If a soul walked the earth who cared, that is…
Yes, but according to the Medveds as quoted by Tim Burton, that was the “Anti-nuclear bomb message” that one of Wood’s investors insisted on being placed into the script. (Think we get a bit of it with the cops at the beginning also.)
Supposedly, the baptism thing really did happen, too.
I GOT A JOB TO-DAYYY!!
I’M SELLIN’ CHEVROLETS!!
I’M BRINGIN’ HOME GOOD PAY…
I JUSSST GOOT HIRRRED!!
tom – nay, kevin’s basso-profundo-erfously wonderful performance of “zeroooo…”
COME OUT N’ HAVE SOME LEMONDAADDE!!
“… I’D LIKE-TAH MAKE-A SALE BUT WHAT CAN I DOOO, I’M GONNA BE A FAILURE JUST LIKE YYYOUUU, DAD!” (“LIKE ME??”) “YAH I’M GUNNAA BEE A FAAILURRE JUSST LIKE YOUUUU!!”
“oh for cryin’ out loud…” “what’s the point?” (shrugs…) “commercial sign.”
it would take too much time to say everything about this episode that enough can’t be said about.
dese dudes/dudettes were so solidly into their comedic timing period during the current three-or-four episode stretch… it’s like how the band “tool” reportedly liked to listen to bill hicks while on their own tourbus; comedy was just another form of music to them. and the brains were blowin’ nuts back then, man!
it’s pointless really, listing riffs from this epi… you might as well just watch it and take it for granted, it’s perhaps one of “the ones” any newbie should watch, just to see “why should i watch mst3k,” and to get some of the very, very best of them in one single shot.
The scene where the cops briefly discuss UFOs (Joel: “Well, let’s not change the plot now.) implies that Dr. Vornoff’s work isn’t the only oddity around.
Since this is evidently the same town seen in “Plan 9 from Outer Space” (and in “Night of the Ghouls”; Kelton’s in all three, anyway), that actually qualifies as continuity of some kind. Sort of. I guess.
Woodville, South Dakota: The Tromaville, New Jersey before there was a Tromaville, New Jersey
On another note, maybe Vornoff and Strowsky were supposed to be neither German nor Russian. Maybe they were Albanian or Czechoslovakian or Hungarian (which Bela Lugosi in fact was) or Latvian or Slovenian or Yugoslavian or, well, really, in the 1950s, a foreigner was a foreigner…
George “Strowski” Becwar, on the other hand, was 100% American. Yet he displayed such mastery of that accent…whatever the heck it was.