Born in 1896, Kenneth Strickfaden was an electrician who ended up as a film set designer and an expert in electrical special effects for Hollywood movies. Ken conceived and built many of his electric devices. These wild machines spewed sparks, arcs of electricity and strange mechanical sounds creating atmosphere of for some of the best known mad scientists in cinema.
Ken is most famous for creating the special effects used in the laboratory of Victor Frankenstein in the 1931 Universal film “Frankenstein”. During his tenure Ken worked for Universal Pictures, Fox Films and Famous Players-Lasky, which later became Paramount Pictures. His body of work is estimated to be between 80 and 100 films and television programs. The list is sparse because many of them were un-credited.
Strickfaden created a variety of machines that whirled, spun and spit sparks of electricity. His most famous apparatus was a giant Tesla coil that he lovingly referred to as the Megavolt Senior. Strickfaden gave many of his inventions interesting names such as the Neutron Analyzer, the Nebularium, the Cosmic Ray Diffuser and the Baritron Generator. All created to heighten the movie goers’ experience.
Although “Frankenstein” was his best known film, it may be his work on “The Mask of Fu Manchu” 1932, starring Boris Karloff, that Strickfaden loved the most. The story goes that Karloff, having experienced Ken’s whiz-bangs in “Frankenstein”, wasn’t keen on becoming dry roasted again so Ken stepped in as Karloff’s stunt double for a particularly wild scene involving 1,000,000 volts of electricity. A faulty ground wire caused Strickfaden to come in contact with enough volts to lift him off his feet and send him hurling across the set.
Director Mel Brooks coaxed Ken and his machines out of semi-retirement to dress the stage for “Young Frankenstein” 1974. Sound effects editor Ben Burtt recorded some of the sounds created by Strickfaden’s machines and used them for some scenes in “The Empire Strikes Back” 1980, “Raiders of the Lost Ark” 1981, and “Return of the Jedi” 1983. Ken Strickfaden, the original mad scientist, died in 1984.
For a comprehensive look at Kenneth Strickfaden and his contribution to cinema I recommend “Kenneth Strickfaden, Dr. Frankenstein's Electrician” by Harry Goldman.
Although his work on many films was never credited, I am aware of the following ones:
- Phantom of the Opera (1925)
- Wings (1927)
- Words and Music (1929)
- Just Imagine (1930)
- Frankenstein (1931)
- The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932)
- Chandu the Magician (1932)
- Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932)
- Murder at Dawn (1932)
- The Man Who Lived Again AKA The Man Who Changed His Mind (1932)
- Sherlock Holmes (1932)
- Doctor X (1932)
- The Invisible Man (1933)
- The Vanishing Shadow (1934)
- Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
- Murder by Television (1935)
- The Lost City (1935)
- Flash Gordon (1936)
- Ghost Patrol (1936)
- The Amazing Exploits of the Clutching Hand (1936)
- Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars (1938)
- Fighting Devil Dogs (1938)
- The Wizard of Oz (1939)
- Son of Frankenstein (1939)
- The Phantom Creeps (1939)
- The Shadow (1940)
- Man Made Monster (1941)
- The Devil Commands (1941)
- The Man They Could Not Hang (1941)
- Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)
- Batman (1943)
- Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (1943)
- The Boogy Man Will Get You (1943)
- House of Dracula (1945)
- The War of the Worlds (1953)
- Monstrosity (1963)
- The Munsters-1 episode (1966)
- Games (1967)
- Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1971)
- Blackenstein (1973)
- Young Frankenstein (1974)
- The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
- Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
- Return of the Jedi (1983)