You're listening to an Airwave Media podcast.

Welcome to From Beneath the Hollywood Sign.

If you love old movies, Hollywood history, or the golden age of filmmaking, you've come to the right place.

This is the podcast that talks about amazing stories of Tinseltown from another era and fascinating conversations with writer-producer Steve Kubine and actress writer Nan McNamara.

So Steve, did Ava Gardner and Howard Hughes have a good relationship?

Well, they did until he dislocated her jaw.

What?

Well, don't worry. She hit him back with an ashtray.

From beneath the Hollywood sign is the gin joint for you.

This newly mastered version of a universe of horrors is one of 12 series of the secret history

of Hollywood. New episodes are being written and created all the time. If you'd like full access to

every drama, every thrill, every story, then sign up now at patreon.com slash ataboy secret or follow the link in the show notes

of this episode. And thank you. I am Dracula. I bid you welcome. Written in 1897 by Irish author Bram Stoker, Dracula was no newcomer to the screen.

In 1922, the German Expressionist director F. W. Murnau had attempted to secure the rights to Stoker's story but had failed.

Determined to press ahead anyway, Murnau made a few alterations to the plot,

changed a few names, and produced the terrifying silent horror Nosphoratu,

starring Max Schreck as the nightmarish Count Orlock.

This was no suave villain, able to blend in and out of polite society.

Murnau's creature from the grave was just that, foul-breathed, bold-headed, claw-fingered, and creeping up your stairs as you slept. In actual fact,

it was remarkably close to Stoker's original vision of Dracula himself. When the Stoker estate saw

the movie, they sued Mernow and won, the judge ordering all copies of the film to be destroyed.

However, one copy survived, and Murnau's expressionist nightmare still haunts audiences today.

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