Rob Price
Gutbrain Records
rob + gutbrain.com = email

2009 February 25 • Wednesday

For reasons that are obscure even to me, I've been researching Curt Siodmak's novel Donovan's Brain.

It first came to my attention when I heard a radio adaptation, two episodes of Suspense, in which Orson Welles played the main role. That was originally broadcast in 1944; an LP of it won a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album in 1982. Go figure.

There are also three movie adaptations of it. The first one, The Lady and the Monster, precedes the radio show and has the worst title but the best cinematographer: John Alton.

I just found out that before it was published as a book it was serialized in Black Mask, the greatest of the pulps.

The fellow on the cover is pouring gasoline into fire extinguishers.