Article: Val Lewton at RKO: the social dimensions of horror.(RKO Pictures Inc.)

Val Lewton's troubled career at RKO is tellingly illuminated by the following anecdote. Lewton, about to produce Isle of the Dead (1945), was summoned to a meeting with his supervisor, lack Gross, and a cog in the RKO public relations machine named Holt. Under Holt's watchful eyes, Gross informed Lewton that RKO had lured Boris Karloff away from Universal Studios and that he was to be cast immediately. Lewton, who associated Karloff with the kind of Grand Guignol horror film he despised, left the office with smoke pouring from his ears, as the previously silent Holt called after him, "Remember, no messages!" By the time Lewton had returned to his office, he had a message ...

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