Lucan and McShane gained
a reputation in music halls within the British provinces. They made a string of
"Mother Riley" films that earned small profits in England but were
not released in the U.S. By 1952, the series was about kaput, and Lucan and his
wife were separated. Renown Pictures, which was producing Mother Riley films,
noted the success of "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein," and used a Renown
executive, Richard Gordon, to get Lugosi to make "Old Mother Riley Meets
the Vampire." Gordon, a friend of Lugosi, had arranged a Dracula stage tour
for Lugosi in England. For $5,000, Lugosi, well past his prime, was eager to
make the film.
The plot involves Mother
Riley getting her mail mixed up with a mad scientist named Von Housen (Lugosi)
who thinks he's a vampire. Mother Riley gets a killer robot, Von Housen gets a
bed warmer. Von Housen uses the robot to kidnap Mother Riley and take her to his mad
scientist house, with sinister servants and secret passageways, etc. Von
Housen, delighted to find out Mother Riley has his favorite blood type, serves
her lots of rare beef and liver. Von Housen, also seeking uranium to build more
robots, has kidnapped a young lovely (Maria Mercedes) and her boyfriend. The
girl's dad apparently knows where to find uranium, or something.
In the early 60s, it was
eventually released as "My Son the Vampire," with comedy singer Allan
Sherman singing a song with that nonsensical title in the opening credits. That
version, which omits a dark Lugosi chuckle at the beginning as well as the
actor's screen credit, is what is sold in the U.S. today and plays on Turner
Classic Movies. The original British version, which might be interesting for
Lugosi completists, is available at Tubi. Sinister
Cinema sells a print with the little-used "Vampire Over London"
title. The credits at least include Lugosi's name, although there is no Lugosi
chuckle.
I am indebted to my friend Grudt for finding this cool ad (below) from the Guardian London, Great London England newspaper of Sept. 18, 1952. It shows the film by its real title, "Mother Riley Meets the Vampire," and that it plays with a Joseph Cotton film. Also below, Grudt has researched an Oct. 27, 1951 snippet from The San Francisco Examiner notes that Lugosi in London preparing to shoot "Old (sic) Mother Riley Meets the Vampire."
A footnote: For many years a myth endured that Lugosi's 1952 British Dracula stage tour failed and the actor and his wife were left stranded and broke in London. The myth further states that he made "Old Mother Riley ..." just so he and his wife could have transportation fare to return home. That myth is still repeated in books and on Web sites. It's completely untrue. As authors Frank Dello Stritto and Andi Brooks recount in their book, "Vampire Over London: Bela Lugosi in Britain," the Dracula tour provided steady work for Lugosi -- who enjoyed good reviews -- in England for several months. It played the English provinces and suburbs of London. Its only failing was that it was not of enough overall quality to make the West End, Britain's Broadway. The "Old Mother Riley" film was in fact a bonus for Lugosi, a nice windfall -- he and his wife had already earned enough money to easily make it back to the states. Today, the film, under its "My Son the Vampire" title often airs on the retro Movies channel, usually in the early AM hours.
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