Karloff and Lugosi or if you prefer Lugosi and Karloff, either way for much of the movie loving public these are the two major stars of the classic Hollywood horror film. Their names and definitive roles, Dracula and Frankenstein, are paramount and seemingly equal in stature from the time of their star making appearances in 1931. Yet, this equal standing is demonstrated to be only in the minds of the public and not in the reality of their lives in the incredibly detailed and exhaustive book Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff: The Expanded Story of a Haunting Collaboration, with a Complete Filmography of Their Films Together by Gregory William Mank a magnum opus examination of the films in which the horror icons appeared together as well as a dual biography of their very unequal Hollywood careers. Despite some profound differences the two men shared some remarkable similarities in the years prior to their star-making roles as the Count and the monster. Each left Europe to make their homes and careers in America; they loved the stage and performed for years in a variety of roles large and small; they appeared in silent films; they were married multiple times and both were in their 40s when they became stars in 1931 at Universal Pictures in the smash hit films Dracula and Frankenstein. Dracula came first and despite the fact that he had starred in the play to rave reviews and big business in both London and New York, Bela Lugosi was not the original choice to star in the film version. Universal had secured the rights to a film version of Dracula with the intention of featuring their big star Lon Chaney, the man of a thousand faces, a performer renowned for his ability to transform himself for any role, most famously in the silent classics Phantom of the Opera and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. When Chaney died suddenly in 1930 the role was eventually given to Lugosi, who of course became an immortal, yet a sad pattern was already established, Bela would be under-valued and under-paid. For a few fleeting months, when Dracula came out in early 1931 to rave reviews and record breaking box office, Bela Lugosi was the king of Hollywood horror. Yet, he almost immediately fumbled this unique opportunity by failing to secure a Universal Pictures studio contract and most significantly, passing up the opportunity to play the mute role of the monster in Frankenstein. This opened the way for Boris Karloff to be discovered eating lunch in the Universal commissary by director James Whale who cast him in the role of his lifetime as the monster. By the end of 1931 Bela Lugosi was already finding himself supplanted by the new king of horror Boris Karloff, who received rave notices as the mute central figure in Frankenstein which again shattered box office records. Unlike Lugosi, Karloff signed a multi-picture contract with Universal who paid and promoted him as a star, even billing him as Karloff the Uncanny for his next major picture The Mummy. Although each star continued to work inside and outside Universal, eventually it was determined that it would be good business to team them up which the studio did with three films The Black Cat, The Raven and The Invisible Ray. By drilling into studio records covering the production history of the films Mank is able to illustrate how even when Lugosi’s role might have seemed bigger or at least equal to Karloff, he was always paid less even at times significantly below other members of the cast. Mank paints a vivid picture in remarkable detail illustrating the state of Universal Pictures in the first half of the 30s under the Laemmle family and how it changed after the studio was sold to corporate managers in the mid-30s. In fact the sale of the studio along with changes in the production code lead to horror pictures being shut down for most of the second half of the 30s leaving Karloff and Lugosi searching for work with Bela being particularly desperate. Something both actors had in common was being early signatories and supporters of the Screen Actors Guild; in fact Lugosi was in such dire straits that he had to appeal to the guild for financial support. Then something remarkable happened, a theater owner in Los Angeles decided to run Dracula and Frankenstein as a double feature in August of 1938 and the films became a sellout smash all over again. Universal picked up on the results and rolled the films out together across the country to big business everywhere. Suddenly the horror drought was over and the two stars were signed up for Son of Frankenstein. Again, the studio took advantage of Lugosi’s circumstances, but this time he had a champion in director Rowland V. Lee who conspired to keep Bela on the payroll throughout production. Son of Frankenstein would be an enormous hit that would ignite another cycle of horror pictures that would run through much of the 40s; it would also be the last time Karloff played “my dear monster”. In addition to the Universal horror classics the two stars also teamed in You’ll Find Out where alongside Peter Lorre they played comedic bogey-men to musical star Kay Keyser’s hero. Their last film together was off the Universal lot at RKO for producer Val Lewton in the classic The Body Snatcher. Their roles were emblematic of their circumstances with Karloff the star in one of his juiciest villain roles as Cabman Gray and Lugosi in support as Joseph, a simpleton, (a really fine performance, but a role Lugosi is said to have hated). Bela’s last really great moment came in 1948 at the end of Universal’s horror cycle when he played Dracula a final time in the horror-comedy classic Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. After that his steady personal and professional decline accelerated with the dissolution of his marriage, a growing dependency on drugs and ultimately & ignominiously in the films of Ed Wood until his death in 1956. Karloff lived on to see his films have another wave of popularity when they were syndicated for television in the late 50s and gave him and Lugosi a whole new generation of fans. Boris Karloff worked steadily always grateful for the opportunity to perform; beyond films he had an enormous hit on stage with Arsenic and Old Lace, although strangely enough he was left out of the film version. Another immortal role came to Boris from television where he narrated and gave voice to Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Karloff died in 1969 leaving an estate valued in the millions. The only real flaw in this remarkable dual biography is the author’s dwelling on the issue of feuding fan bases which supposedly promote or denigrate one star over the other which adds little or nothing to his wealth of material. Also, because of the sad and sordid facts that surround the end of Lugosi’s life the author seems to go out of his way to highlight sexual predilections and exploits from Karloff’s early days that he does not back up with facts only rumor and innuendo. In no way do these slight errors detract from this remarkable achievement across 701 pages and illustrated with 254 images including 10 glorious color reproductions of vintage film posters. ( )