I love the fact that I can ask a question here on my weblog and get an answer. John Giriat sent the following…
I enjoyed your tribute to Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein and wanted to add what information I know about Glenn Strange injuring himself during filming. I was lucky enough back in the late 1960's to correspond with Glenn while he was working on Gunsmoke. I asked many questions about his film with Bud and Lou and this is what I found out. Near the end of the film, Glenn Strange picks up Lenore Aubert, who plays Dracula's assistant Sandra, and throws her (really a stuntman) through the laboratory window. The first time this was filmed the stuntman came tumbling back into the set and Glenn, in trying to catch him, broke his foot. The second time they filmed this, you can see Glenn take a step back when it looks like it may happen again (you can see the stuntman's foot bounce back up a bit). Lon Chaney Jr. put on the Frankenstein make up and appeared in only one scene, where the monster is running amuck in the lab and knocking over things. If you look close you can tell its not Glenn. The rest of the film shot on the dock, Glenn is playing the monster again but he has a cast on his leg under the monster's pants. This is why he seems to be walking awkwardly. Glenn told me they worked all through the night to film that last sequence on the dock because Bud and Lou had to be in court the next day. By the way, I really enjoy your website. Keep up the good work.
Thanks, John. And for those of you who are now eager to see this movie again, I posted this link some time ago to the eight-and-a-half minute Castle Films abridged version which, amazingly, manages to tell a rather coherent version of the story. It includes the scene where Strange throws "Lenore Aubert" out the window, as described above.