On Aug. 25, 1931, the film “Dracula” opened at the State Theatre in Auburn. The movie was based on a stage play of Dracula, which itself was based on Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel.
Universal Pictures acquired the rights to both the play and the novel for $40,000 and set the budget at just above $350,000.
Many film industry experts thought the new chief studio executive, Carl Laemmle, Jr., was making a huge mistake. But his father, the co-founder and owner of Universal Pictures, Carl Laemmle, Sr., approved the project. The chief concern was that depression-era audiences were not ready to suspend disbelief in a medieval superstition.
But the film was a box office success. Producers discovered that real-life hardships intensify the appeal of such a film by creating a more complete escape from the difficulties of life. The success of Dracula led to more Universal monster movies. Frankenstein, The Mummy and the Wolf-Man were soon introduced to audiences.
Dracula, directed by Todd Browning, starred Bela Lugosi (who also starred in the stage play of Dracula), Dwight Frye, Edward Van Sloan and Helen Chandler, who is our one Placer County connection to Dracula.
Chandler battled alcoholism for most of her life. She spent five years as a patient at the DeWitt State Hospital in Auburn trying to fight the disease. She was released in 1959 but resumed drinking soon after. She died in 1965 at the age of 56.
Photo: Dracula Window Card, c. 1931
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