BESIDES "THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN", of course. . .?
ELSA SULLIVAN LANCHESTER was born to Socialist, suffragist, atheist, pacifist, vegetarian parents in London, England, on October 28, 1902. Her mother, Edith Lanchester, was briefly institutionalized by her wealthy family for refusing to marry Elsa’s father, Shamus Sullivan, a factory worker. The reason for Edith’s confinement? “Overeducation”!
At the age of eleven, Elsa was chosen to study with the international dance sensation Isadora Duncan in Paris. As WW1 approached, she returned to London and began teaching her own dance classes. She co-founded the Cave of Harmony, a Bohemian nightclub where she performed avant-garde one acts and parodied old music hall songs, while she was still in her teens. Some of her fans included James Whale (the future director of “Bride of Frankenstein”), Evelyn Waugh, Tallulah Bankhead, John Gielgud, and HG Wells. Wells wrote three silent films for Elsa, who was hailed “the female Charlie Chaplin”. She was sculpted and painted by many artists of the time, celebrated in poetry, magazines, and gossip columns, and was soon cast in a play opposite the up-and-coming young actor, Charles Laughton. They fell in love, set up housekeeping in 1927, and married in 1929. Two years later, Laughton confessed to her that he preferred men—but they stayed married. Around that time, Hollywood beckoned for Laughton, but didn’t know what to do with Elsa. They appeared in several films together: THE PRIVATE LIFE OF HENRY THE EIGHTH; REMBRANDT; THE BEACHCOMBER; TALES OF MANHATTAN; THE BIG CLOCK; and WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION, for which they were both nominated for Academy Awards.
Never a fan of film acting, Elsa set out on her own, recreating her early Cave of Harmony song stylings and touring the United States, Canada, and England. She became wildly popular at the Turnabout Theatre in Hollywood, where she performed with Forman Brown and the famed Yale Puppeteers for over ten years. After Charles Laughton’s death, she continued to appear in films and in cabarets, and wrote a vivid autobiography, ELSA LANCHESTER HERSELF. She died in 1986.
No mad scientist created Elsa. She created Herself!
ELSA SULLIVAN LANCHESTER was born to Socialist, suffragist, atheist, pacifist, vegetarian parents in London, England, on October 28, 1902. Her mother, Edith Lanchester, was briefly institutionalized by her wealthy family for refusing to marry Elsa’s father, Shamus Sullivan, a factory worker. The reason for Edith’s confinement? “Overeducation”!
At the age of eleven, Elsa was chosen to study with the international dance sensation Isadora Duncan in Paris. As WW1 approached, she returned to London and began teaching her own dance classes. She co-founded the Cave of Harmony, a Bohemian nightclub where she performed avant-garde one acts and parodied old music hall songs, while she was still in her teens. Some of her fans included James Whale (the future director of “Bride of Frankenstein”), Evelyn Waugh, Tallulah Bankhead, John Gielgud, and HG Wells. Wells wrote three silent films for Elsa, who was hailed “the female Charlie Chaplin”. She was sculpted and painted by many artists of the time, celebrated in poetry, magazines, and gossip columns, and was soon cast in a play opposite the up-and-coming young actor, Charles Laughton. They fell in love, set up housekeeping in 1927, and married in 1929. Two years later, Laughton confessed to her that he preferred men—but they stayed married. Around that time, Hollywood beckoned for Laughton, but didn’t know what to do with Elsa. They appeared in several films together: THE PRIVATE LIFE OF HENRY THE EIGHTH; REMBRANDT; THE BEACHCOMBER; TALES OF MANHATTAN; THE BIG CLOCK; and WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION, for which they were both nominated for Academy Awards.
Never a fan of film acting, Elsa set out on her own, recreating her early Cave of Harmony song stylings and touring the United States, Canada, and England. She became wildly popular at the Turnabout Theatre in Hollywood, where she performed with Forman Brown and the famed Yale Puppeteers for over ten years. After Charles Laughton’s death, she continued to appear in films and in cabarets, and wrote a vivid autobiography, ELSA LANCHESTER HERSELF. She died in 1986.
No mad scientist created Elsa. She created Herself!
