Bela Lugosi Meets Old Mother Riley...What A Drag!

So you think Bela Lugosi meet his first transvestite co-star in Ed Wood's Glen Or Glenda? Wrong, bucko! You see, once upon a time, Bela Lugosi was stuck in Merry Old England, and then, even worse...

BELA LUGOSI MEETS OLD MOTHER RILEY...WHAT A DRAG!

By CRYSTAL GUILLORY

I feel that I should start out this article with the famous Monty Python line " And now for something completely different" for I will be talking about something completely different.

Not many people know about this obscure movie that starred the great Bela Lugosi and a man in drag, and I am not talking about Glen Or Glenda (created by Plan 9 From Outer Space cult director Ed Wood Jr.). Actually, Ed Wood was the second "man in drag" to star opposite Bela. I am talking about the British horror romp Old Mother Riley Meets The Vampire (AKA My Son The Vampire, AKA Vampire Over London) which starred Lugosi and Arthur Lucan (who played Mother Riley).

Arthur Lucan as "Old Mother Riley"...

The background story behind this offbeat film is interesting. Lugosi was to be in a tour of Dracula in the British Isles that was to pay him very well, but the play became bankrupt due to mismanagement. This left Lugosi and his wife in England, with no means of support. So word came about an upcoming horror/comedy movie, a deal was set and Lugosi was cast.

The film was to be the latest in the "Mother Riley" comedy series. This series starred "Mother Riley", a popular comic female character (an old washerwoman) that Arthur Lucan in drag created in British music halls. The series was very popular in the thirties but interest was waning by the forties. Perhaps they felt by adding Lugosi on the cast would give the series "new blood."

"Old Mother Riley" meets the robot...

The plot involves Lugosi as the mad scientist Von Housen, who needs the map of a uranium deposit so he can build an army of robots and take over the world. To do this he kidnaps the daughter of an Italian scientist who has the chart of the deposits in South America. Soon Von Housen is waiting for his first robot to be shipped over to him, but due to a comic misfortune, the robot was sent to Mother Riley. Not one to be discouraged, the scientist has his robot bring Mother Riley to him, so Mother Riley is placed in a sack and brought to Von Housen.

"...Arthur Lucan, whose act consisted of dressing up in drag as an old Irish washerwoman called Mother Riley, had starred in a series of ultra-low budget movies...most of which are unwatchable. Usually paired with his wife Kitty McShane, who played his daughter in the act, Lucan was in decline...(and had) a stand-in...to double for him on stage while he sat drunk in the dressing room...He was an alcoholic, and she a nymphomaniac who taunted him for his impotence. The real horror movie would have been the story of their marriage..."
--Andy Boot, Fragments Of Fear

Once there, Von Housen offers Mother Riley a job as his maid, relishing in the idea that Mother Riley is the right (blood) type for the job. Meanwhile Mother Riley discovers the kidnapped girl, and escapes to the police station.

Needless to say, with an incredible tale involving a robot and a kidnapped girl the police thought she was crazy. So Mother Riley goes back to Von Housen's intent on saving the girl. However Von Housen is not so fond of that idea and he orders his robot to kill Mother Riley, making it "perfect crime" or so he thinks.

Through a series of (allegedly) comic misadventures, a merry chase is led through Von Housen's house. Eventually Mother Riley saves the girl and chases Von Housen in his cohorts in an antique car, but arrives in time to see them captured by the police.

Bela and "Old Mother Riley" discuss blood types...

Some points should be made about Lugosi's character; he is not really a vampire but rather someone who fancies himself one. Also this is the closest to the recreation of his Dracula persona in his later years; this is before he became the sickly visage in Plan 9 From Outer Space and Bride Of The Monster.

Unfortunately, this movie was not picked up in the United States for it was too British (the same concerns over transvestite humor that American TV had over Monty Python), so then it was renamed Vampire Over London but no one was interested.

At least we get to see Lugosi rise from his coffin...

Someone then came up with the brilliant idea came to cut out all of the Mother Riley scenes, and leave in Lugosi and the robot scenes. Then, new scenes with Lugosi would be shot to complete the picture.

Unfortunately Lugosi was sicker, so he did not look the same as in the earlier shot scenes. The movie was finally sold to Jack Harris, an American distributor who made changes such as adding a song and introduction by Allan Sherman and re-titling it as Carry On Vampire. Alan Sherman was a popular comic of the period, whose best-known work is "Camp Granada" ("Hello Muddah...Hello Faddah...")

However the creators of the British "Carry On" film comedy series legally stopped him for calling it that, so the film was finally retitled My Son The Vampire. (You can catch Alan Sherman's cut of "My Son The Vampire" on Dr. Demento's compilation CDs.)

Allan Sherman meets "My Son The Vampire"?

All in all, this is a quirky part of Bela's filmic history...so, in my opinion, it is worth watching. The British accents do take a while to get used to but it is amusing in a silly kind of way. While this is not the sophisticated entertainment of "Abbott and Costello," this can be worthwhile viewing.

(Crystal Guillory is vice-president of the New Orleans Worst Film Festival to be held on June 10, 2000. Click here to read more about it. You can contact Crystal personally here.)

Thanks, Crystal, for "dragging" this Lugosi epic out into the light of day. By the way, readers, If you want to hear Allan Sherman's song "My Son The Vampire," click here and download it (Real Audio file).

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