Small Home Gazette, Fall 2020

History Brief: “The Blood Is the Life!”

   —Bram Stoker, Chapter 11, Dracula

Bram Stoker’s immortal Dracula, written in 1897, was a phenomenal success as a novel. The story is about possession, surrender and, of course, an evil, blood-sucking count with fangs.

Adapted for the stage by playwright and actor Hamilton Deane, the play Dracula premiered at the Grand Theatre in Derby, England, in 1924 before moving to London. There it ran for almost 400 performances. Reviews called the play “very thrilling,” and fainting in the aisles was said to have been a regular occurrence.

Raymond Huntley wore his own tuxedo to play Dracula.

The tuxedo, the cape, the medallion, the aristocratic demeanor—the stage play introduced the world to the mesmerizing Count Dracula, as portrayed by English actor Raymond Huntley. Huntley wore his own tuxedo. His cape had two wires attached to its high collar. As Dracula, Huntley would turn away from the audience and disappear down a trap door. The cape, suspended by the wires, dropped to the floor, creating the illusion of Dracula vanishing before the audience’s eyes.

Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula.

When the play was brought to America in the late 1920s, Hungarian-born Bela Lugosi, in his first major English-speaking role, played Dracula—a role he would make famous in the 1931 Universal film. The cinema guaranteed Dracula’s place in popular culture but it was the stage version that introduced the visual we think of as Count Dracula.