Still OT Re: SC - OT: Eating the Script Girl

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Bonne of Traquair wrote:
> 
> > > Adamantius, sure that the real Alfred Abel, a.k.a. Max Schreck, was a
> > > perfectly nice man

I did a little more reading, and while the first seven or eight books
I've read on early German horror cinema do refer to Schreck as an
enigmatic figure inasmuch as there was some confusion as to who he
actually was (and whether or not he really was Alfred Abel), I still
have seen no indication that he had any reputation for unpleasantness.
Last night I actually found a webbed biography of Max Schreck, which
asserted that he really was named Max Schreck (and the reason we keep
harping on this is that this would be the equivalent of an American or
English actor in horror films being named Joe Terror), and provided
pretty extensive personal and career details, other films he appeared
in, his wife's name, and the date of his death. Still, nothing to
indicate that he was especially unpleasant, or that Willem Dafoe's [!]
portrayal of him, or the movie plot in general, is based on anything
other than, "Wouldn't it be cool if...?"  
 
> Alfred Abel?  My grandmother's maiden name was Abel. I wonder if he's
> related to her family?  And if so, how worried should I be?

About the name? Not at all, AFAIK. Passing over the more obvious stuff
about mirrors and garlic, perhaps we ought to see if you're willing to
cook the various medieval pottages calling for hawthorn flowers, and
most especially, do you measure rice, other grains, and beans by the
cup, the pound, or the piece?

Still, the most consistently bizarre and amusing intersection of sets of
vampire behavior between folklore and the (seemingly) most trivial
fiction imaginable, is the fact that many pieces of Eastern European
folklore do in fact mention vampires' preoccupation with counting small
objects. You can keep them out of your house by dumping a bag of rice or
beans outside the door, and unless they finish counting each grain
before cockcrow, they can't pass the pile. Of course you _can_ go and
engage them in conversation, and they'll probably say, "48, 372...
48,3-- um... 48,300 and... DANGIT! One... two... three..." Millet is
good because it's really small and hard to deal with in the dark.

And now the distinct possibility exists that we'll never know if Jim
Henson based this habit of The Count's (on Sesame Street, etc.) on
actual folklore, or just on the fact that he was a Count, so he counted.
 
Another agonizing question for a sleepless night...

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com