"Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum," our film for this week's Monday Evening Chat/Film Viewing
FROM CHARLIE CHAN: “Fear is cruel padlock.”
As we continue to move along on our CHARLIE CHAN FILM TOUR 2016, we will first remember those who lost their lives in the latest attack against our nation. This horrific event brings us back in so many ways to September 11, 2001. On the Monday following that dark day, we met in our Chat Room just as we will again. We will be there for each other, and our collective thoughts and prayers can go out to those who lost their lives as well as for their families and friends…
We will be viewing “Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum,” starring Sidney Toler. In this adventure, Charlie Chan and Number Two son, Jimmy, search the eerie confines of a crime museum which features wax figures of notorious murders in search of a real-life murderer. In the process, a decades-old case is also reopened.
Also, per our newly inaugurated custom, we will be sharing, before our featured film presentation, a vintage Charlie Chan radio show produced in Australia: “The Escaped Musician” which can be found on the Internet at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmBQE7A0MX0
OUR PRESENTATIONS: “Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum” (1940). Runtime: 63 minutes…AND “The Escaped Musician” (Australian radio program, summer ca. 1950; Runtime: 26 minutes).
SUMMARIES:
“The Escaped Musician” – A young musician has become involved in a burglary and murder and Charlie Chan seeks to save his life.
“Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum” - Escaped killer Steve McBirney vows to get even with Charlie Chan whose testimony was key in his conviction. Recovering from plastic surgery at an eerie wax museum run by Dr. Cream, the killer lies in wait. Chan is lured to the museum through an offer to participate in a live radio broadcast there. Fortuitously escaping a death trap, Chan, along with Number Two Son, Jimmy, investigates the murder of one of the other participants which is connected to a crime that occurred a decade before.
TIME: We begin with arrivals and greetings at 7:30 EASTERN TIME. Then, we share our radio program which will be followed at exactly 8:15 when we roll our feature, “Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum.”
LOCATION: Our Charlie Chan Family Chat Room, which is accessed at http://www.charliechan.info/id17.html.
IF YOU LACK A COPY OF OUR FILM: Often our features can be found available online, happily, this week’s feature is presently available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ztg5wAf0Wo
OF NOTE: According to David Robert Cellitti, the wax figure of Charlie Chan (and, perhaps we may assume that the rest of the wax figures used in the film) was made by a studio in Los Angeles called The Stubergh's, which was run by Katherine Stubergh. "The late Katherine Stubergh was my mentor. She supplied wax figures for such films as “House of Wax,” “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein,” “The Frozen Ghost” and many other films...including “Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum."
PLEASE have a pleasant, safe Monday, and I hope to see you in our Chat Room as we join together…Charlie Chan, when called upon, is a good escape when needed…
