Karloff Plays Cricket!

Boris Karloff, pictured above bowling, at an match in 1948 for the OCC (Overseas Cricket Club).  They are playing against the HCC (Hollywood Cricket Club) founded by C. Aubrey Smith (pictured below, batting in stripes) in 1932.  Both were part of Southern California Cricket Association.  Due to the number of ex-pat Brits in Hollywood in the thirties and forties these matches were quite popular.   The HCC was by far the more of the two.  It boasted most of the major British stars of the era as members, including Ronald Colman, Laurence Olivier, Leslie Howard, David Niven, Nigel Bruce,  Nigel Bruce and Cary Grant.  There was even a permanent Cricket ground for their use in Griffith Park.

Novelist Evelyn Waugh satirized the HCC and  C. Aubrey Smith in his novel “The Loved One”,  calling him Sir Auberon Abercrombie.

The HCC still exist.  And still promotes cricket in California.  You can visit their website here.  But they have lost most of the social and political cache they had in the thirties and forties.

Audio: INNER SANCTUM – “The Wailing Wall”

Another great classic of horror from the Golden Age of Radio.  It  aired on “Inner Sanctum” on November 6, 1945.

Audio: INNER SANCTUM: “Death for Sale”

Karloff stars in “Death for Sale” from this July 13, 1952 episode of “Inner Sanctum”.

Audio: INNER SANCTUM – “Corridor of Doom”

Another bit of old time radio horror.  This creepy radio original from “Inner Sanctum” stars Boris Karloff, and poses the interesting notion that a voyage to the other side must first pass through a … “Corridor of Doom”.

Remember to check our audio category for other old time radio chillers.

Video: Final Interview with Gloria Stuart

Here’s the final interview with Gloria Stuart (who died last month at age 100) from the BBC documentary “A History of Horror with Mark Gatiss” which aired this week.  In this brief interview, Ms. Stuart discusses working on The Old Dark House, focusing on her experiences with James Whale and Boris Karloff.