I just finished watching Arsenic and Old Lace and there seemed to be something extra going on with one of the actors.
Raymond Massey plays the psychotic brother, Jonathan who has had plastic surgery done to alter his looks. The nutcase doctor has made him look like Boris Karloff and Jonathon gets upset every time someone notices.
Was there a rivalry between Karloff and Massey? I found out from IMDB that Karloff was playing the “looks like Karloff” role on Broadway, but I was wondering if there was an in joke for casting Massey.
No particular rivalry. Karloff played the role on Broadway, and it was written to refer to him. When the movie was made, Karloff was unavailable, so they cast Massey. They left in the lines from the original play, though.
According to a Karloff biography I recenly read, Karloff very much wanted to do the movie and was very available. The problem was that he was not under contract to the studio doing the film. Massey was, so they went with him.
The author showed a telegram Karloff sent to Massey wishing him good luck when filming started and a “thank you” note from Massy to Karloff. Apparently there were no hard feelings between the two.
While the filming went on Karloff decided to tour with the road company of the show.