# Frankenstein's Monster: What are the neck bolts for? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 28, 2006, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frankensteins-monster-what-are-the-neck-bolts-for/374510 "2006-09-28T17:33:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frankensteins-monster-what-are-the-neck-bolts-for/374510/1 "2006-09-28T17:33:02Z")
Did Mary Shelly’s monster have neck bolts? Seems unlikely as it was written in the early 1800’s when the concept of a mechanical bolt would probably have been lost on most readers. In fact the neck bolt wouldn’t really become a monsterous fashion statement until it could be visually depicted to an audience, so maybe the silver screen was responsible for the addition of neck bolts. Anybody know? ---
**Author:** ![AndrewL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frankensteins-monster-what-are-the-neck-bolts-for/374510/2 "2006-09-28T17:44:30Z")
Unless I’m mistaken, nearly everything associated with the Frankenstein mythos was invented by Hollywood, including the neck bolts, use of lightning to bring the monster to life, and a lab assistant named Igor. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frankensteins-monster-what-are-the-neck-bolts-for/374510/3 "2006-09-28T17:44:45Z")
The bolts were created by Jack Pierce for the 1931 movie. Because they looked cool. Certainly the earlier, Charles Ogle silent version had no neck bolts (at least not in any [existing stills](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ru/b/bb/Charles_Ogle_In_Frankenstein_1910.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frankensteins-monster-what-are-the-neck-bolts-for/374510/4 "2006-09-28T17:45:08Z")
The flat head and neck bolts were all movie inventions. And the neck bolts aren’t mechanical bolts holding on the head, but electrodes. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frankensteins-monster-what-are-the-neck-bolts-for/374510/5 "2006-09-28T17:48:43Z")
[QUOTE=AndrewL] Unless I’m mistaken, nearly everything associated with the Frankenstein mythos was invented by Hollywood, including the neck bolts, use of lightning to bring the monster to life, and a lab assistant named Igor. [/QUOTE] What about Frau Blücher? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frankensteins-monster-what-are-the-neck-bolts-for/374510/6 "2006-09-28T17:49:56Z")
Shelley’s creature didn’t have neck bolts. No representation of the monster I’ve seen prior to the James Whale film had neck bolts. That includes Charles Ogle in the 1910 film version and even Hamilton Deane in the Peggy Webling play that was ostensibly the basis for the 1931 Universal film. They played with a lot of odd hardware for that makeup. I’ve seen sketches that show massive U-bolts in the monster’s forehead (along with raised “welts” under them). A lot of the design was by makeup artist Jack Pierce. But in the movie **Gods and Monsters** , “James Whale” (Ian McKellan)claims that _he_ came up with the basic idea of the flat-topped head (“Like a beef tin!”) and the bolts (“to let the electricity in”), and has a sketch of this that he gives to Brendan Fraser at the end. I don’t know who, of Pierce or Whale really did come up with the bolts (or if someone else at Universal did), but it comes from that film and its successors. In the 1948 **abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein** , Dracula uses his ring to charge the monster with electricty through those bolts and bring him back to life, but I don’t recall them ever being used like that in any other flick. Pity – they’re the perfect place to clamp on the jumper cables. Just remember to put the last clamp on the car chassis. Or Frankenstein’s butt. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frankensteins-monster-what-are-the-neck-bolts-for/374510/7 "2006-09-28T17:50:13Z")
Duh! They are for jump-starting him! ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frankensteins-monster-what-are-the-neck-bolts-for/374510/8 "2006-09-28T17:51:10Z")
Where else are you going to put the jumper cables? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frankensteins-monster-what-are-the-neck-bolts-for/374510/9 "2006-09-28T17:55:23Z")
[QUOTE=Patty O’Furniture] What about Frau Blücher? [/QUOTE] [WHE-HE-HE-HEEEEee!](http://misheli.image.pbase.com/u14/digitalfrog/upload/41767983.horse.jpg) 😛 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frankensteins-monster-what-are-the-neck-bolts-for/374510/10 "2006-09-28T17:57:24Z")
Dammit! Link didn’t worl! \ ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frankensteins-monster-what-are-the-neck-bolts-for/374510/11 "2006-09-28T18:03:49Z")
Boris Karloff was not a tall man, so I suspect the thick-soled boots and the extended high forehead were to make him more physically imposing. Actually, that’s sorta similar to the late Andre the Giant, who, in his prime, was just a sliver over a legitimate 7’, but with the thick boots and the afro, his “height” was billed as high as 7’5", although by the time of his death, his height is reported to have shrunk to 6’10" as complications of arthritis. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frankensteins-monster-what-are-the-neck-bolts-for/374510/12 "2006-09-28T18:06:32Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor] Dammit! Link didn’t work! \ [/QUOTE] “You don’t have permission to access the horse on this server.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frankensteins-monster-what-are-the-neck-bolts-for/374510/13 "2006-09-28T18:13:47Z")
[QUOTE=AndrewL] a lab assistant named Igor. [/QUOTE] It’s Eye-gor. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frankensteins-monster-what-are-the-neck-bolts-for/374510/14 "2006-09-28T18:30:38Z")
> [@](#): > > Unless I’m mistaken, nearly everything associated with the Frankenstein mythos was invented by Hollywood, including the neck bolts, use of lightning to bring the monster to life, and a lab assistant named Igor. I believe you’re right, except that the not-really-hunchbacked assistant was named “Fritz”. I kid you not. It was played by Dwight Frye, channelling the Renfield character he’d played in “Dracula”, which in turn channeled Bernard Jukes playing Renfield. It’s pretty clear to me that they put that character into Frankenstein’s lab so that Colin Clive’s Dr./ Frankenstein would have someone to talk to, rather than talking to himself or being reeduced to voice-overs. They probably also got an assist from the dwarf who’s Rotwang’s assistant (albeit glimpsed only briefly) in **Metropolis**. Rotwang’s lab seems to have helped inspire Frankenstein’s, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they got a quasi-hunchback inspired by a dwarf. Fritz got killed off in the first movie, but Dwight Frye was back as a virtual clone of thast character in **The Bride of Frankenstein** , where he got killed off _again_. It wasn’t until the third movie that an assistant named “Igor” showed up – but he wasn’t a hunchback. He was a shepherd with a twisted neck (the result of a failed hanging attempt), played by Bela Lugosi. He was back in the next film. It wasn’t until **House of Frankenstein** that a legitimately hunchbacked assistant showed up, but he wasn’t named “Igor”, either. The whole “hunchbacked assistant named Igor” seems to be people, cartoons, and comedians amalgamating the most memorable aspects into a single character. By the way, it’;s pretty clear that the name of Marty Feldman’s character in **Young Frankenstein** _is_ pronounced “EE-Gore”. That’s what Wilder’s charactwer had been told. Feldman’s character only claims the pronunciation is “EYE-Gore” when he hears Wilder pronounce _his_ name as “Fron-kon-steen”, and evidently thinks he’s putting on airs. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frankensteins-monster-what-are-the-neck-bolts-for/374510/15 "2006-09-28T18:34:47Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] But in the movie Gods and Monsters, “James Whale” (Ian McKellan)claims that he came up with the basic idea of the flat-topped head (“Like a beef tin!”) [/QUOTE] \*\*gabriela \*\*said something in an autopsy thread once about a common rookie mistake involving not cutting a notch when taking off the top of the skull to remove (or examine?) the brain. Apparently, if you do this and then put everything back together and pull the skin back up over the skull and hand the body back to the family for burial, the sliced off skull will slip out of place, resulting in “Frankenstein head” . Or maybe it was the brow. (All I can envision is notching the top of the pumpkin so the jack-o-lantern top fits back together smoothly.) So maybe it’s not so far fetched an effect, considering the brain transplant. ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frankensteins-monster-what-are-the-neck-bolts-for/374510/16 "2006-09-28T18:37:38Z")
No, it was because the head kept falling off ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frankensteins-monster-what-are-the-neck-bolts-for/374510/17 "2006-09-28T20:46:37Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant] It’s Eye-gor. [/QUOTE] They told me it was Igor. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frankensteins-monster-what-are-the-neck-bolts-for/374510/18 "2006-09-28T21:03:47Z")
[QUOTE=Shodan] They told me it was Igor. Regards, Shodan [/QUOTE] Well they were wrong, weren’t they? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frankensteins-monster-what-are-the-neck-bolts-for/374510/19 "2006-09-28T21:28:10Z")
> [@](#): > > No, it was because the head kept falling off One of my favorite Gary Larson cartoons: Dr. Frankenstein and Igor and a headless monster out searching the fields in the night. Dr. Frankenstein: “That does it! If we ever find your head I’m _bolting_ that sucker on!” ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2006, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frankensteins-monster-what-are-the-neck-bolts-for/374510/20 "2006-09-28T21:40:07Z")
Another thing about Frankenstein that I’ve always wondered…the monster appears (in all film versions) to be stitched together from various odd parts. Why didn’t the Dr. just reanimate a complete body? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frankensteins-monster-what-are-the-neck-bolts-for/374510.md?page=2)